MONTICELLO - Sullivan County government will be getting rid of a number of positions that have gone unfilled and unfunded for years as a way to put more control on spending into the hands of the county manager’s office and the legislature.

Currently on the books are nearly 300 positions in virtually every department in the county, and most of them are assistant and support positions. 

In an effort to clean up the county books, and help control possible future spending, the Office of the County Manager suggested deleting the positions from the books.

County Manager David Fanslau said that although wiping out the numerous positions will not save the county any money up front, it counts for preventative maintenance in the long run.

“The county budget outlays each position in the budget by position number, title, and salary, and with those titles included in this resolution really removes them so it doesn’t gum up the process,” he said. “This way it gives them control of the destiny of the budget as well with advice from myself and my commissioners versus leaving it at the discretion of department heads and commissioners.”

The county legislature voted to support eliminating those job slots.