The Worcester County Commissioners made an easy call this week to institute a hiring freeze in light of serious budget deficiencies that need to be reconciled this spring.
Why it was decided in closed session and announced via press release without public comments from the commissioners is unclear, however. Once again, the commissioners continue to show a penchant for making moves behind closed doors rather than in public meetings.
Clearly this decision was needed, but it could have been announced at a public meeting last week or the one coming up this month instead of via a press release. Sure this is a personnel move, but there are no individuals who needed their privacy protected here.
The county is staring at grim financial numbers and this has long been known as a tax increase year due to the fact it’s the first budget cycle after an election year — when tax increases come with little political ramifications — and property tax revenues continue to slide.
It would certainly seem inconsistent for new jobs or existing vacancies to be filled at a time when gloomy financial reports are being presented and the clear direction is to raise taxes in some fashion. Surely, taxes can’t be raised at the same time as non-essential positions are being filled.
An immediate hiring freeze for non-public safety personnel makes perfect sense and it’s an easy call for the county considering there are only three vacant positions. More importantly, it sends a message to department heads not to request additional personnel in their budget pitches. It’s also an earlier indicator the county is not going to seriously consider the Town of Ocean City’s proposal for tax differential funding, which called for the resort to receive approximately $2 million more dollars from the county in grants than received last year.
The hiring freeze is smart business, but more troubling than the actual decision was why the commissioners continue to conduct business like this out of the public arena.
Additionally, it will be interesting to watch as the commissioners scrutinize the Board of Education’s budget in the coming weeks and whether they try and hold the school system to the same type of policy approach.