Howard County’s attrition ordinance continues to be enacted, this time within the probation department.
During last month’s meeting, the Howard County Council removed a position from the county’s probation department. The move, made unanimously, resulted in the position’s $36,951.39 salary and other benefits being returned to the county’s general fund.
“We had an employee that received a job offer in Indianapolis, and that individual took that job,” said Commissioner Paul Wyman. “We promoted somebody from within the probation department and did not backfill that position we promoted from. We’re trying to downsize the employment level of county government through attrition when people leave in order to reach our objective of saving $1 million to $1.5 million.”
Chief Probation Officer Dustin Delong spoke during the meeting, asking the council to keep the department in mind should the employee workload increase.
“I went from angry, to upset, to disheartened, to now accepting the current situation,” said Delong. “I appreciate fiscal responsibility. I’m not requesting that anything stays or changes … I hope that would be taken into consideration if we, for instance, lose a grant in the future and need funding to carry that position into what we’re doing. If we lose another position, we may not be able to operate at the same level that I expect.”