Sign of future? Hancock County lays off 2

    GREENFIELD - The Hancock County offices of the treasurer and the auditor will have to make due with one less employee in 2009. 

    Faced with an increasingly tighter budget, the Hancock County Council voted to eliminate two positions and broke the news Wednesday to Auditor Linda Grass and Treasurer Janice Silvey.

    The move will reduce the treasurer's office from four full-time employees to three and the auditor's office from 11 full-time employees to 10. As a result, the county will save more than $50,000 per year in employee salaries.

    "It's easier not to rehire someone than it is to fire someone," Councilman Jim Shelby said sympathetically to a teary-eyed Grass. "I've had to do it in my own business - let people go."

    Implementing the reduction in force will be an easier task for Silvey because one of her two collection deputies is set to retire soon, which means the staff cut will take place through attrition. 

    Grass agreed to decide by March 1 which of the positions she can do without. 

    The council assured Silvey and Grass that while their offices are the first have to deal with staff cuts, they will not be the last.