COEUR d'ALENE - Building is down in Kootenai County.

And some think staffing at the Building and Planning Department should be, too.

"I think it's just a supply and demand situation," said Bruce Noble, professional engineer and land surveyor in Post Falls.

Noble said he would like to see the county Building and Planning Department pursue more layoffs or furloughs, due to drop in demand for the department's services.

He has seen firsthand a huge decrease in local building and surveying work, he said, and believes the county Planning Department has experienced the same reduction in the building and land use permits it issues.

"Since demand is down, I think the furloughs or layoffs of some people in that department (would be a good step)," Noble said. "Using those funds in other areas of the county where there has been no decrease in demand would be a better use."

He would rather see the funds applied to emergency services like the sheriff's department, he said.

"I think if the county were providing the leadership they should be, they'd be taking a better look at the budget," he said.

Rose Lake property owner T. Wall said he is worried his tax dollars might be supporting unnecessary staff members in the Planning and Building Department.

"We have to pay attention now, being in a depression," said Wall, who asked not to reveal his full name. "We don't want anybody on the payroll if they don't have anything to do."

But that's just not the case, said Scott Clark, director of the Building and Planning Department.

The number of permits issued fluctuates each year, Clark said.

Even with a reduction from recent years, the number of permits currently issued is still at the county's historical average, he said, and keeping the department's 32 employees busy.

"We're not lacking for work," Clark said. "I think that if the folks who might believe that (we need more layoffs) had an opportunity to look at our workload, they might reconsider."

In 2009, the department issued a total 1,451 permits, according to county records, down from the 1,614 in 2008.

But even with the current dip, the department is still issuing more permits than in some recent years, Clark said.

In the past decade, the lowest annual number of permits issued was 1,209 in 2000.

The highest was 1,958 in 2005.

The total permits issued in 2009 was only just below the average of 1,458 permits issued per year over the last 19 years, he added.

"We're processing our normal permits," he said. "We're still pretty busy, though certainly not at the pace of 2005."

In addition to issuing permits, the department staff is also on top of fixing incomplete permits that go back several years, he said. Some of the incompletes require more phone calls and paperwork processing, others need additional inspections.

The department has been working to complete these permits for about two years, Clark said.

"I don't know why. They just weren't done," Clark said, adding that the errors occurred before his time as director. "It (the work) varies with each case, depending on where the process left off. It's all over the board."

The department also laid off 1.5 positions for the 2009-2010 budget, he said, which included eliminating a full-time staff member and reducing another job to a half-year position.

The staff has never increased when demand has gone up in the past, Clark added.

"The budgets have and always are typically pretty tight for the county," he said. "We figure out creative ways to try to absorb the work as a team and get things done."

County Commissioner Rick Currie said he had addressed in his state of the county speech that though the dollar volume of construction is down, the number of construction permits is still constant.

"We do see new construction," Currie said. "We do see the pole barns still going up and the homes still going up. They're just not as big as they used to be. We don't see the million-dollar homes that we saw in previous years."

On Tuesday afternoon, John Mills, county building inspector, traipsed across a sawdust-coated floor in a home being constructed on Blackwell Mill Road in Coeur d'Alene.

He has been keeping busy enough, he said as he eyeballed the walls for a frame inspection.

"It's been up and down," Mills said. "Construction everywhere is down, but we've still had work to do."

Clark said he doesn't think the Building and Planning staff can afford any more losses.

"We're always looking for ways to improve our service while continuing to maintain the level of service our clients expect," he said. "I don't think a reduction in staffing would make us able to continue meeting those expectations."