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With the failure of Proposition 419, Navajo County’s proposed jail tax, county staff is working to create a two-year plan that will address the loss of revenues from the impending closures of the Navajo Generating Station (NGS), Kayenta Mine and the Cholla Power Plant.
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According to County Manager Glenn Kephart, County Attorney Brad Carlyon has already sent a letter to the Board of Supervisors stating that he will not be able to prosecute misdemeanors for the towns and cities due to the failure of Proposition 419.
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Kephart explained, “At this point we have to create a plan to address our financial situation based on where we are. We know that NGS is shutting down and we expect to feel that impact as early as this spring. We also know that Cholla is going to close sometime between now and 2025, probably sooner rather than later.”
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County residents will see service reductions in all operations including law enforcement, the courts, recording or transacting property and prosecution, so Kephart is fully aware of the need for communication and open dialogue among the employees. “We will no longer be able to offer some services, other services will take longer, there will be a potential for more errors,” said Kephart.
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Navajo County Finance Director Paige Peterson shared that with the finance department being smaller, it is difficult to do much more than those things that keep the county financially in compliance with the state statutes. “We don’t have a grant administrator anymore and as a county we receive $5 million in federal funds that now are the responsibility of the departments to make sure they follow through on all the grant protocols.”
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Kephart said the total range of reduction of staff will be between 20 and 25 people in the first year.
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Assistant County Manager Bryan Layton said, “We will use natural attrition through retirement and people leaving as much as possible, but at the end of the day the county is still losing the capacity of those positions and every service in the county will be affected, including satellite locations, which all have to be a part of the conversation.”
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“We are in the process of eliminating our legal defenders office. So the public defenders will take on more and work with contract attorneys,” shared Kephart. “As we said during the campaign for Prop 419, public safety will feel the cuts this time and it will affect the number of deputies. The Sheriff’s Office has said that a reduction in deputies means we will have to reconsider all partnerships and agreements with local city and town police departments. County Attorney Brad Carlyon has also been very clear that he will not be able to prosecute all felonies anymore, meaning some individuals will be released instead of being charged with a crime.”
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Even though the economy was strong this past year, which has given the county a capacity to work on the reductions strategically and over a period of time, Kephart said the projections are that the economy will slow down in 2019.
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“One of the most significant concerns is if we cut staff to the point where we have to ask our employees to do what they can’t do, will we then lose good people because of the stress levels created in that,” noted Kephart.
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Coming from a construction background, Kephart gave the example of a contractor who wants to pour concrete on a certain day, but needs the inspector to approve the site. If the inspector has to put off the contractor, then the contractor has to put off the concrete truck, which creates ripple effects that will further hurt the county’s economy.
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When asked if the county will reintroduce the jail district tax again, Kephart said he didn’t know, but if there was strong support from the community there could be an opportunity for that in the future.
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Kephart also noted that one of the priorities of the county in 2019 will be to make sure the historic Navajo County Courthouse in Holbrook gets a new roof, stating, “We can’t wait another year. Somehow as a community we need to figure this out.”
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