CROWN POINT | Lake County Surveyor George Van Til announced Thursday he will cut his 2009 budget by 16 percent in response to calls for austerity and tax cuts.

"I've put some numbers on the table today," he said at a news conference.

He said the cuts, which would amount to $429,382 out of his current $2.1 million budget would result in the elimination of two jobs from his full-time staff and three from his part-time staff.

He called on other county officials and unelected department heads to cut their budgets by at least 12 percent and for the Lake County Council to impose additional cost cuts recommended by the 2007 Good Government Initiative. The study called for the elimination of 72 jobs in the offices of the county auditor, clerk and treasurer.

Van Til spoke publicly Thursday after being silenced Wednesday by County Council President Christine Cid, D-East Chicago, before a vote by the council and Board of Commissioners to extend a county government hiring freeze through the end of the year.

He said the freeze "is not a solution" to the expected $15 million revenue shortfall the county will face in 2009 because of state-mandated property tax cuts.

Van Til said he didn't want to cut his office services until he knew what strategy the county's fiscal officers were planning.

He complained six of those officials, the Lake County Council's Finance Committee, met behind closed doors to produce a list of 44 proposed budget cuts.

He said Finance Committee members were protecting their own offices and staffs. Nevertheless, he said some of their proposals deserved to be considered.