County workers to be furloughed

JACKSON — Hinds County supervisors have voted to place more than 900 county employees on one-day-a-month furloughs for five months.

The board of supervisors took the action April 19, according to The Clarion-Ledger.

Each employee will have a total of five furlough days.

Lillie Woods, the county budget and finance coordinator, said the furloughs would save the county $608,859.

The furloughs, which will run from May through September, will not apply to employees paid by fees or to elected officials.

It does include the 525 employees of the Sheriff’s Department, or 56 percent of the affected work force.

“It’s going to hurt financially,” Chief Deputy Steve Pickett said. “We have a number of employees who make entry-level pay. When you’re talking about taking $100 from anyone’s paycheck, that’s their light bill, that’s their food bill.”

Pickett said the sheriff’s office operates three facilities with an estimated 1,200 inmates.

“We never close. It’s a 24-hour-a-day operation. Manpower takes up 90 percent of our budget.

“But I’m confident that the level of service in the sheriff’s department will not be compromised for the citizens of the county,” he said.