Longer lines for marriage licenses and renewing vehicle registrations and driver’s licenses are almost a certainty after El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink sent 19 workers home for good Monday, reducing his staff to 1995 levels.

The layoffs, along with not filling seven vacancies, come after voters rejected the county’s sales tax hike on Nov. 4. Balink faces a 2009 budget of about $6.1 million, roughly 19 percent lower than this year’s budget.

Balink said he will deliver the best service he can with a staff that mirrors levels of 13 years ago – when the county had 152,000 fewer residents – by relying on cross-training of employees and technology.

“You have to get smart and more efficient,” he said. “We’ve been working on the idea that efficiency in government doesn’t have to be an oxymoron.”

One change residents will notice immediately is the downtown Centennial Hall office and the branch at Powers Boulevard and Airport Road will be closed Friday, changing many employees’ work week beginning in January to four, 10-hour days.

The only branch that will be open five days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. is the one in the Chapel Hills Mall. Balink said closing that branch would not have saved any money because, unlike the other two locations, the utility bill remains the same whether it’s open of closed.

Employees will rotate through the Chapel Hills office, taking turns working a five-day week.Noting he eliminated assistant branch manager positions, Balink said, “We’re putting experienced people back on the line” to wait on customers.

Those who work driver’s license renewals also will handle license plate transactions.

“The bottom line is, whatever resources you have you’re going to do the best you can to provide a satisfactory level of customer service,” he said, but added, “Those lines will be a little longer.”

The Clerk and Recorder’s Office has been criticized for waits of up to an hour in past years, but Balink was able to reduce that by hiring more clerks paid for with a $10 fee on late registrations imposed in 2005.

The staff reduction could be offset, at least in the short term, by a reduced demand for services due to the faltering economy. Fewer documents are being recorded because of the slowdown in housing and other real estate sales.

Fewer car sales also have cut the workload in the motor vehicle department, but renewals of existing plates assure a steady flow of business, Balink said.

On Tuesday, business was practically nonexistent at the Centennial Hall motor vehicle division. Perhaps due to the snowy weather or the usual light demand at midweek, the office was nearly deserted with four of 15 counters open.

Larry Bates, who was among the 60 percent of county voters who rejected the county’s request for a 1 percent sales tax, said he’d rather see budget cuts even if it means longer waits.

Todd Brannon said he doesn’t relish having to spend more time in line. In the past, he’s had to take a day off work to get his driver’s license because he didn’t know how many hours it would take.

“Having to wait more than an hour isn’t right,” said Brannon, who voted in favor of the tax increase. “If it’s just a little bit more money, if it’s benefiting things in the county overall, I’m all for that.”

Unlike in the past, Balink isn’t closing any offices. In 1991, a budget crunch led then-Clerk and Recorder Ardis Schmitt to shut the Security office. She kept the downtown and East Library office, on North Union Boulevard, open. The library site was moved to Chapel Hills Mall about 10 years ago.

Balink said he spent $70,000 on severance pay, giving outgoing workers three weeks pay each, regardless of years of service, plus earned leave time. He noted those laid off were outstanding workers with no job performance issues.

Daphne Mangram, 2, watches as her father Ryan gets his picture taken for his driver’s license at the Motor Vehicle Department at Centennial Hall Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008. Photo by (KEVIN KRECK, THE GAZETTE)