Mayor will take pay cut, ask workers to do the same

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams is asking most city employees to work four fewer hours each week, which would cut their wages by 10 percent, in order to avoid a general fund deficit and the need to layoff workers to make up that shortfall.

Facing a $3.39 million deficit, the city administration is looking to make cuts, and with 80 percent of the general fund’s cost going toward the salaries and benefits of its 850 workers, the biggest cut has to come from there, Williams said.

“The overall concept is if we can operate on a 36-hour work week, we’ll be able to achieve savings to close the deficit and avoid layoffs,” Williams told The Vindicator today after speaking at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s “Good Morning Youngstown” breakfast.

“It keeps people working and allows them to keep their benefits,” Williams said of the plan.

A formal written plan will be presented to the city’s unions shortly, he said.

During the chamber event at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Hall, Williams announced he would take a 10-percent “concession in my salary and benefits.”

When asked later by the newspaper about the 10-percent concession, Williams said he’d reduce his $105,000 annual salary by that percentage — a figure equal to $10,500 — through a combination of a pay cut and givebacks on some of his benefits. The mayor would not cut his hours.

Without salary concessions, layoffs are inevitable, Williams said. Even with the concessions, there’s no guarantee some jobs won’t be cut, he said.

For the complete story, read Saturday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com