The vice president of a company eliminating 128 Dells and Sauk County area jobs says the country's credit market crisis led to the layoffs.

"Like most households and most companies in this country, we relied on financing to run our business," said Michael Kaminer, vice president and assistant general counsel for Bluegreen Corporation, a Florida-based vacation home company. "It was prudent we make changes in 2009 that didn't rely on that in the future."

The company will eliminate 153 Wisconsin sales and marketing jobs as of Jan. 20. Three company offices statewide will be closed and another will be downsized.

Kaminer said the layoffs were part of "significant" cutting company-wide, though he declined to give exact figures.

The company owns and manages 40 resorts as part of a national vacation network, including Bluegreen Odyssey Dells and Christmas Mountain Village.

Wisconsin Dells resident Jericho Hedblom was one of the Bluegreen Corporation employees who lost his job. He said the company notified him of his lay-off Nov. 21. Hedblom said he wasn't surprised by the news. His job was to line up tours for potential timeshare holders. He was compensated based on the number of people he referred to the tours of the vacation lodging amenities. "This last summer, it was horrible for us," he said.

In the summer of 2007 he made $11,000, he said. By comparison, he made $16,000 for the entire year of 2008. Hedblom said he began working for the company in June 2007 and hopes to find similar work with one of the other resorts in the area.

For Hedblom the credit crisis cost him his job.

The government's latest steps aimed at restoring the nation's financial system to health came Tuesday, when the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve pledged $800 billion to boost lending on credit cards, auto loans, mortgages and other borrowing.

If liquidity is restored to the credit market, local officials are hoping the company will restore its jobs, said Tom Diehl, a Lake Delton village trustee who owns the Tommy Bartlett Ski Show.

But Diehl said it's no surprise the current economic situation has influenced companies that deal heavily in lending.

"If you couldn't get a car loan, I guess that pretty well says why car sales would go down," Diehl said. "People that are buying automobiles on credit probably don't the highest credit score either."

The layoffs cap what has been a tough summer for the Dells area that started with a breach of Lake Delton.

"I think the breach of Lake Delton caused a mammoth problem because everybody thought the Dells was closed," Diehl said. He said the flooding and road destruction has taken a toll on business, but things should be getting back to normal soon.

County Highway A between Baraboo and the Dells that was destroyed by the Lake Delton breach was reopened to traffic Wednesday, and Diehl said officials plan to start refilling the lake next week following the re-construction of the dam near the breach.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.