Cowlitz County commissioners cut all non-union employees salaries by 5 percent this week and are asking union employees to do the same — and more cuts are yet to come.

Commissioners announced the move Tuesday as part of their ongoing efforts to balance the books by trimming the county’s 2009 general operating budget by $4.5 million.

The May 1 cuts to the 199 non-union employees — including department heads — will save $460,000 for the rest of 2009. Not all of that money would go to the general fund. Some employees, such as public works, aren’t paid out of the general operating fund. To be consistent, though, the pay cuts will be countywide, Commissioner George Raiter said at a meeting with about 80 employees Tuesday night.

Commissioners also asked the 405 employees represented by 12 unions to agree to a 5 percent pay cut but can’t unilaterally cut those salaries without union agreement.

If all county employees took the pay cut it would save about $1.15 million, but only about $750,000 of that would come out of the general fund budget that needs trimming. Salary money saved in other budgets could be used to fund programs within those departments, officials said.

The county wants to hear back from all unions as soon as possible, ideally by the end of the month. Each union votes separately, so it’s possible only some of the unions will agree to the cuts, Personnel Director Zdilar said.

“(The overall savings) obviously depends on whether the unions come to the table and join us,” Commissioner Axel Swanson said. “(If everyone agreed) it would be an amazing commitment to say ‘we need to weather this together.’ ”

Even with the salary cuts, there still will be layoffs and program cuts. Officials are just trying to minimize the exact number, commissioners said.

“Right now we’re looking at 90 people we’d have to lay off,” Commissioner Kathleen Johnson told the employees Tuesday night. “If everyone does the 5 percent cut across the board, that puts us at laying off 60 people.” With additional cuts, commissioners hope to limit layoffs to around 30 workers.

Every little bit helps, officials said.

“For every 20 people that participate (in the 5 percent pay cut) that’s one job (saved),” Raiter said.

Employee comments were mostly polite Thursday and focused on why the cuts were needed and what other options commissioners examined. It was clear, though, that no one was happy with the prospect of a pay reduction on top of other yet-to-be-determined cuts.

And while the 5 percent cut is just for 2009 at this point, sheriff’s office worker Louise Gaspro pointed out that cutting salary reduces retirement benefits and is particularly damaging to those close to retirement.

“These cuts will affect people’s retirement for the next 25 years,” she said. “Is there not anything we can do for these people?”

Commissioners said they would try to work with employees on an individual basis if need be but stressed the cuts still need to be made.

Earlier this month, commissioners asked all department heads and elected officials to cut their budgets by 10 percent. Some objected loudly and even those who tried to meet the request could only do so with “very drastic” cuts to employees and service, Raiter said.

Voluntary furloughs and reductions in the amount the county pays toward health benefits also have been discussed and are still possible to reach the goal of 10 percent cuts in each department. All three commissioners also have taken a 10 percent pay cut.

The faltering national economy prompted some of the cuts, but Raiter said voter-approved initiatives cutting automobile tab fees and limiting how much tax collections increase each year also are to blame.

“The public may see a change in service level due to their decisions,” said Chris Bischoff, environmental health manager for the Building and Planning Department. Raiter agreed, saying he’s sure some offices will restrict hours to meet the needed cuts.

Commissioners laid off 18 workers and eliminated another 14 vacant positions when they adopted the 2009 budget in December. They warned then that more cuts were likely but said Tuesday the budget worsened even faster than they expected.

“None of us want to see more layoffs, but we don’t have any choice,” Raiter said.

“We know it hurts,” Johnson said of the pay cuts. “But it hurts even more to not have a paycheck at all. So we’re trying to avoid as many job cuts as we can.”