tigardlayoff.html

ICC News

Building Department Layoffs Indicate a Crashing Economy

[Source: http://www.tualatintimes.com | November 06, 2008]

In what city officials are calling an indicator of the crashing economy, Tigard’s Building Division is cutting its workforce in half. Come Dec. 3, eight city employees will be looking for new jobs while remaining staff in the building department scramble to pick up where others left off.

“I’ve seen it coming for a long time,” said Loraine Sellers, city plans examiner and one of the employees who received notice Monday of her impending layoff. “The housing market in general, the slow down in workload — when things start getting slow you know you’re not bringing money in.”

“Slow” is a mellow way to put it.

According to Tigard Building Official Brian Blalock, building permits have plummeted in the last year. From July to September 2007, the city received 1,014 permits for everything from electrical, mechanical and plumbing construction to residential and commercial development. Skip forward one year and that number dropped more than one-fourth to 710 permits for July to September of 2008.

At first city officials couldn’t tell if the falling permit load was just a bump in the road, “but when the housing crisis and economy crashed, all the issues at the national level indicated to us the trend wouldn’t be turning around anytime soon,” Community Development Director Tom Coffee said. “It’s basically Wall Street hitting Main Street.”

With expenses outweighing revenues, the building division is the hardest hit since it’s self-funded by the fees the city charges for permits. The department is in charge of reviewing construction plans and inspecting actual development. Fees from both of those services, as well as permit application fees, are what keep the department staffed and running.

“And if money isn’t coming in, there’s no money to pay staff,” Coffee said.

Coffee stressed that the layoffs are an indicator of the national economy and near halt in city development, rather than a reflection of how the local business economy or rest of city departments are fairing.

“You keep hearing people can’t get credit or it’s hard to get, and as a result people are just being cautious and don’t want to build,” he said.

So far this is the first economy-related city layoff, according to Coffee.

Unfortunately the squeeze doesn’t stop in Tigard. Cities throughout Oregon are experiencing a slumping development scene as lots sit vacant and developers wait for the housing market to revive.

Washington County’s Building Services division hasn’t had to resort to layoffs yet but is experiencing significantly less work from plan reviews to construction inspections — making Washington County Building Official John McAllister worried, to say the least.

“There are no people building houses or applying for permits,” McAllister said. “We’ll keep an eye on our workloads, and we are staying busy at the time, but we are concerned.”

Beaverton had to eliminate five positions in its building department at the beginning of its 2007-2008 fiscal year in July in response to the economy and trickling permits.

So those who received notice of their layoffs in Tigard weren’t caught completely off guard.

According to Blalock, the city held several meetings the last few weeks to determine how it could save money and run the building division sufficiently.

The unlucky weren’t restricted to plans examiners and field inspectors — management positions were slashed as well.

“It wasn’t all of a sudden eight people,” Blalock said. “At first it was four, back to the drawing board, six, back to the drawing board, then eight. Each one was progressively worse news, and it’s disheartening to know people’s lives are going to be changed.”

Besides giving employees a month’s notice, the city is offering extended health coverage and is placing those laid off on a recall list for a year if the economy suddenly receives a breath of life.

Still, while some cities buckle down for a financial roller coaster ride, other cities are enjoying relatively steady revenue in their building division.

Tualatin has experienced a substantial drop-off in its residential development, but Building Official John Stelzenmueller said commercial construction is up “and we are seeing lots of small projects.”

“We have a steady workload and a steady revenue,” Stelzenmueller said.

So there is a glimmer of hope.

Sellers is staying positive and hopes to bounce back from her layoff.

“It doesn’t matter how low the lows get, because the next high will be higher and the next low will never be as low,” she said.

[Original Release: http://www.tualatintimes.com/news/story.php?story_id=122593690404855300]