Youngstown lays off 18 workers; more city job cuts may be needed

The layoffs will save the city $100,000 this year.

YOUNGSTOWN — After months of talking about job cuts because of its budget deficit, city officials sent notices to 18 of its workers that they won’t be employed by Youngstown beginning Sept. 4.

The job cuts — seven full-time workers and 11 part-timers — will save the city only $101,041 this year because it has to pay 60 percent of the employees’ salary for unemployment, said Kyle Miasek, Youngstown’s deputy finance director.

Depending on how many additional weeks of unemployment it has to pay the 18 outgoing workers, the city would save between $300,000 and $600,000 from these layoffs in 2010, Miasek said.

The park and recreation department is taking the biggest hit in numbers with one full-time worker and 8 part-timers receiving layoff notices Friday.

This may not be the end of the job cuts, Mayor Jay Williams said.

“There may be another round of layoffs,” he said.

The city has a deficit of about $2 million, Miasek said.

The city’s income tax collection is about $1 million less than budgeted, Miasek said. Also, the city’s 2009 budget included a deficit of about $1 million that was supposed to be eliminated with layoffs of about 30 to 38 workers earlier this year.

Most of those cuts were to be in the police department, but the layoff list on Friday didn’t include any from that agency.

“The goal is to generate savings for the city,” Miasek said. “Due to the economic slowdown, we’ve seen less income tax collection, and we need to reduce the deficit.”

The layoffs help a little in the short-term, but would result in bigger savings beginning next year, he said.

Also, the city is expected to cut about $500,000 in general fund expenses, and is receiving about $240,000 in federal funding this year to offset the cost of some police employee costs, Miasek said.

Even so, the city will end 2009 in all likelihood with a deficit of more than $1 million, he said.

“This is the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression,” Williams said. “We’re not immune to it.”

Miasek said of the layoffs: “This is unfortunate because all of the employees notified of losing their jobs are important to the function of providing city services.”

Of those losing their jobs, 3 are management employees.

There should have been more managers cut, said Cicero Davis, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2312. The city eliminated five full-time AFSCME employees and eight part-timers.

“Our people are on the front lines doing the work,” he said. “Some additional positions on the management side should have been reduced.”

Edward Colon, president of the Youngstown police patrol officers union, said he’s surprised by the number of job cuts and the small amount of money the city will save.

“It doesn’t make any sense to cut those jobs,” he said.

Williams has criticized the patrol officers’ union for refusing to take concessions to reduce the city’s budget. The city offered the union a buyout — a year’s base salary paid in five annual installments beginning next year — if the union agreed to reduce entry-level patrol officers’ salary and increase the number of years to get to the top of the pay scale.

The union refused, and the two sides haven’t met in months.

The city offered the same buyout deal — a year’s base salary paid equally over five years beginning in 2010 — to its ranking officers. The deal included a provision that doesn’t require the city to replace the ranking officers. Seven took the buyout.

The police buyouts aren’t saving the city any money this year because of large severance packages for unused sick and vacation time the officers are receiving.

The board of control will approve the seventh and final severance payment on Monday to former Lt. Thomas Mylott. He will receive $24,744.58.

The board approved $225,668.73 in severance packages on Aug. 12 to the six other former officers.

Also Monday, the board will approve a $70,000 settlement with Patrolman Daniel Tickerhoof. The city fired Tickerhoof in September 2006 because he moved from the city. The state Legislature had previously overturned residency requirement laws in cities such as Youngstown. Regardless, the city fired him and had to take him back last month after the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the Legislature’s decision.

Tickerhoof will receive the money for back pay and damages, and is leaving the department as part of the settlement.

skolnick@vindy.com