During the early stages of a financial recovery, jurisdictions need to take action right away to begin to stabilize the situation – before the leaders of the recovery process will be able to conduct a detailed diagnosis of the causes of distress and develop a response tailored to the situation. At this point, the organization can turn to generic retrenchment techniques – techniques that are safe to apply with little or no foregoing diagnosis of the situation, which are especially useful at the start of the recovery process. This paper presents a number of generic retrenchment techniques, divided into categories such as personnel, revenues, supplies and materials, and more. The experiences of Hanover County, Virginia, are presented as an example.