TRUMBULL COUNTY Agency to lay off staff to compensate for cuts

The Trumbull County Child Support Enforcement Agency is receiving $400,000 less from the state this year.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
WARREN -- The Trumbull County Child Support Enforcement Agency will lay off as many as 20 people next week to compensate for a cut in state funding.
"We are already making cost-cutting measures, which will include employee reductions," said Jim Keating, the county's personnel director. "We will probably be looking at a reduction of 25 percent of total staff."
The layoffs result from a $400,000 cutback in the amount provided for the CSEA by the state Legislature, said James Tsagaris, county commissioner. The agency had planned on a $4.6 million budget this year, according to the county auditor's office.
"I think the child support agency can be run with the reductions," Tsagaris said. "The state is telling us that, so let's hope we can do it."
Soon informed: Employees will be formally notified of the layoffs next week, Keating said.
Eighty people work for the agency, including 62 who are members of AFSCME Local 3808. The union's three-year contract with the county expires at the end of this month. Negotiations are under way, Keating said.
"The union will not bear the full weight of the cutbacks," he said.
The union's staff representative could not be reached. Keating said the union is aware of the impending layoffs.
Christina Campbell, director of CSEAS, declined to take phone calls to her office Friday.
siff@vindy.com