PDF: Resolution 26372: Severance pay
Up to 10 city employees could be laid off in coming weeks because of cuts to the 2010-11 budget, city officials said Wednesday.
“It is definitely less than 10,” said Daisy Madison, the city’s chief financial officer.
The layoffs will save a few hundred thousand dollars, she said, but there’s no exact amount officials are trying to cut.
Last month, the City Council approved a $185 million operating budget, down from a proposed $197 million. The budget included a property tax increase of 37 cents per $100 of assessed value and a promise to shut down the city’s Office of Faith-Based Initiatives.
Madison said Wednesday that jobs could be cut in the public works and neighborhood services departments and the multicultural affairs office, as well.
She said the city tries to move employees into other positions rather than lay them off, when possible.
“Hopefully, that is the rule rather than the exception,” she said.
City Council members last week agreed unanimously to give severance pay to anyone who is laid off, but Madison said Wednesday the package hasn’t been finalized.
Beverly Johnson, administrator for the Department of Neighborhood Services, said a code enforcement manager recently was laid off from her department. She said the public won’t notice any changes in the performance of the city’s code inspectors.
“They will not know the difference,” Johnson said. “I will know the difference.”
Public Works Administrator Steve Leach declined to comment Wednesday, saying he was uncomfortable talking about possible layoffs.
Councilwoman Pam Ladd, who voted for the budget, said layoffs are always tough, but that the recession has had widespread impacts in the private sector, too.
“There’s hardly a company that hasn’t gone through this type of staffing reduction,” she said.
Councilman Jack Benson, who also voted for the budget, said he was not sure yet whether layoffs would actually occur.
“I imagine we’ll try to encourage retirements,” Mr. Benson said. “I don’t know if they will be layoffs.”
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