Congratulations go out to Henderson County for shrinking government by $1.48 million. Though stories like this are usually cleverly spun to show the positive, pro-taxpayer side of an ugly situation, Henderson County tends to be a solid, conservative area. It is unfortunate they had to feel the pain of a recession first.

The county has frozen ten vacancies, and, more drastically, laid off another ten people. “We are making adjustments in areas where service demands are down or efficiencies are being implemented,” said Pam Brice, the county’s public information officer.

Henderson County attributes a lot of its excess to the construction slump. Cuts include:

• 4 positions from building services ($160,900)
• 1.5 positions from code enforcement ($38,000)
• 4.5 positions and travel and training expenses from the library system ($132,500)
• 1 position, travel and training, and postponed purchasing from the IT department ($181,200)
• 2 administrative positions and other items from the sheriff’s office ($121,000).