With the novel coronavirus pandemic ravaging local government tax revenue, Hamilton County government has furloughed 240 employees, about 12 percent of its workforce.

The court system took the brunt of the hit.

County leaders announced the furloughs Wednesday as they look to slash the county's $276 million budget by 20 percent.

Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval's office accounted for a majority of the furloughs, with 182 employees on unpaid leave.

Pureval said 182 of his 200 employees will take an 11-day furlough – half April 15-29, the other half April 30-May 14.

This will allow the clerk's staff to still process court documents, fines, fees and auto titles as well as all other services.

"Revenue is down at the courthouse, and with less people using our services, we require less staff to work," Pureval said in a statement.

The other 18 employees in the clerk of courts office are taking a paycut, Pureval said. Pureval said he's taking a 15% cut in his $100,000 salary. The total cut from the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts budget is $1.1 million.

The Enquirer requested details on who's furloughed and specific line items of cuts. The county responded with a spreadsheet outlining a total of $25 million in cuts offered by the sheriff, clerk of courts and other heads of departments. The departments' plans varied in specificity.

The county commissioners and administration have furloughed 11 employees. The salaries of the three county commissioners and administrators were cut 10%. With some other budget savings, the commissioners and administration cut $1.2 million out of their $5.8 million portion of the budget.

Whether $25 million in cuts will be enough isn't known, said Hamilton County Administrator Jeff Aluotto.

"We're making these decisions on the fly without a full complement of data that we really want," Aluotto said.

Commissioners will vote on the budget reductions by the end of April, though many of the furloughs have already started.

Furloughs range from two weeks to "several weeks," Aluotto said.

The big hit to county revenue will come in June, Aluotto said, when the county will get the sales tax revenues for March. Sales tax is the largest source of revenue for Hamilton County. Aluotto has projected a $40 million to $60 million budget gap.

Hamilton County Board of Commissioners President Denise Driehaus expressed disappointment Congress has not allocated money for local governments in the latest COVID-19 relief package. She said she's hopeful the federal delegation will have the funding in later rounds.

The private sector will still need restaurant inspections, permits, zoning, and other services provided by the county government when they come back online, Driehaus said. That's why local government needs help.

"It will be difficult to open up the private piece of the economy without having the public side," Driehaus said. "I liken it to sitting in your house, you've got your mask on, but you weren't able to pay your utility bill or mortgage. So you're sitting in the dark with a mask on."