Youngstown spends over $2 million to entice city workers to retire

YOUNGSTOWN —More city workers than anticipated accepted an early-retirement incentive.

Despite the up-front costs of the incentives, city Finance Director David Bozanich said having more retirees is good for the city’s finances.

Youngstown is facing a deficit of more than $3 million this year in its general fund.

Fifty-five workers took the incentive.

Workers had between Feb. 1, 2007, and this past Monday to retire under the program.

The city agreed to buy two years of state Public Employees Retirement System time for eligible workers if they retired early.

The cost for the incentive for one of the city workers retiring hasn’t been calculated.

The cost to buy two years for the 54 others is $2,036,369.13, an average of $37,710.54.

That expense was spread out over 2007 and this year, depending on when the employees retired.

The 55 workers earned $2,606,656.21 in annual salary, an average of $47,393.75. With benefits included, the city was paying about $66,351.25 annually for each worker.

The city plans to keep about 10 of the jobs vacant, saving about $650,000 to $750,000 annually, Bozanich said.

For the complete story, read Wednesday’s Vindicator or vindy.com