A new year may have arrived, but the financial crunches that Durham's local governments were facing in 2008 still loom -- if anything, larger -- in 2009.

"It is really going to be a tough year," county commissioners Chairman Michael Page said this week.

County Manager Mike Ruffin gave commissioners one-on-one briefings this week on the county's financial situation. He declined to release any numbers, but said he will be making a presentation at the commissioners' work session Monday.

"It'll be one of those meetings worth attending," he said.

In November, Ruffin warned commissioners and county department heads to expect a drop in revenue, due to the depressed economy. In December, he imposed a hiring and spending freeze.

At City Hall, City Manager Tom Bonfield has had his staff in a very cautious spending mode for several months.

"There's just a lot of uncertainty," Bonfield said on New Year's Eve.

The state of North Carolina's sales and personal income tax revenue came in 5 percent below expectations for the first quarter of 2008-'09. Decreased state revenue means less money for sharing with towns and counties.

Durham's own income, from sales and property taxes and fees for service, is likely to drop as well.

"I expect sales tax will be a biggie," said county Commissioner Becky Heron. "People are not spending money like normal."

Revenue figures won't be in for a while yet, in part because many taxpayers wait until the end of the year to pay property tax. Ruffin said he expects to have enough data to talk numbers on Monday; Bonfield doesn't expect the city's figures until mid-January.

"It's kind of hard to really gauge," he said, "because everybody's being really cautious and rightly so." While Durham's economy is feeling the recession's effects, some local sectors are holding up quite well, he said.

"We don't know yet," said Heron. But "we really foresee most of the departments having to do a lot of economizing for the rest of this budget year because of the lack of revenues."

Time is fast approaching for the county and city to begin preparing budgets for 2009-'10. Bonfield said the city has been doing preliminary budget work for about a month, but needs October-December figures to "start identifying targets."

In a December report for city department heads, Bonfield projected a $24 million to $40 million gap between anticipated income and anticipated expenditures for 2009-'10.

The city's 2008-'09 general fund budget, which covers salaries and day-to-day government operations, is about $216 million. Durham County's general-fund budget for 2008-'09 is about $684 million, the bulk of it allocated for social services and public schools.

Both have some other funds reserved for specific purposes, such as low-cost housing and some construction.

Page said the county still plans to move ahead with some major capital projects, such as the Human Services building on East Main Street and the new courthouse next to the county jail.

Still, he said, "We're trying to sharpen our pencils in those areas."