County could lift hiring freeze
Guilford County commissioners made a big to-do over the hiring freeze they passed in February.
At the time, commissioners figured the freeze could save them money, which they said was important given all the school-construction debt that's piled up over the past few years.
But a memo issued Thursday from chairwoman Carolyn Coleman indicates that the freeze might end soon. Commissioners have been releasing positions from the freeze, which doesn't apply to the public safety agencies, at pretty much every meeting, and some have openly wondered whether the freeze was actually working.
According to Coleman, it's not.
After accounting for the typical amounts of lapsed salaries, she wrote in the memo, the freeze has only saved about $113,000 in eight months (the county's annual budget is about $525 million). Lapsed salaries are funds that go unspent while positions are vacant.
Department heads, meanwhile, have said the freeze is creating customer-service problems because it of the time and effort it takes to fill positions, Coleman wrote.
Coleman said she'll ask commissioners to consider lifting the freeze at Saturday's board retreat, "and look to other avenues for cost savings."
Look for more on this in Sunday's paper.