Lordstown considers wage freeze

By Ed Runyan

‘If the bottom falls out of GM, we’re in trouble,’ the village fiscal officer said.

LORDSTOWN — With the uncertainty surrounding the jobs at the General Motors assembly and fabrication plants, village council will consider putting its 35 full-time employees on a wage freeze in 2009 and take other measures.

Judy Hall, village clerk and fiscal officer, said village officials intended to provide village employees with a wage increase until about two weeks ago.

The loss of the assembly plant’s third shift and news that the company needed a loan to survive in the short term caused officials to cancel the increases.

The freeze would also affect the village’s 50 part-time firefighters and dozen or so part-time police officers, Hall said.

Village Council meets Wednesday to either give a second reading to or approve legislation that would make the wage freezes official, Hall said.

Meanwhile, Hall plans to propose to the village council that it pass a temporary appropriation this year to cover the first three months of 2009 in light of the uncertainty over the GM jobs.

She said about 75 percent to 80 percent of the approximately $4.5 million to $5 million in village income taxes expected this year come from employees working at General Motors and related companies.

She said her office has not estimated yet how much income tax revenue will be lost through the elimination of about 900 jobs on the third shift and 1,100 other jobs announced recently.

Hall said she knows the revenue loss will be significant, and there is no way to know whether that will be the end of it.

“If the bottom falls out of GM, we’re in trouble,” she said.

Hall said city officials don’t know whether the federal government will eventually provide a loan to General Motors, or whether GM’s problems will lead to bankruptcy, more job losses or even plant closure.

“I think something will be done [to help the company], but who knows?” she said.

Village council must approve legislation setting the village’s 2009 appropriations by Jan. 1, but it will be hard to predict by then how much income tax revenue the village will receive in 2009, Hall said.

That’s why Hall said she will recommend that village council approve a three-month appropriation and re-evaluate it in March.

runyan@vindy.com