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YMHA lays off four to meet sequester cuts
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority is laying off four people from its 75-member staff because of federal sequester budget cuts.
The four were notified last Friday and will be leaving June 28, said Judith Carlin, a YMHA lawyer.
Two of the four are union members and two are not, Carmelita Douglas, authority executive director, told authority commissioners Wednesday.
Douglas said it would not have been practical for the agency to make the cuts by imposing unpaid furlough days on all staff as some federal agencies have done.
That strategy “would not have accomplished the number that we needed,” in dollars saved due to the sequester cuts, even if all employees took an unpaid day off every two weeks, Douglas said.
In one well-known national furlough model, the IRS is making its sequester cuts by closing its offices and giving its staff an unpaid day off on five business days this year.
Although Douglas did not provide any specific figures on cost savings from the layoffs, Gary Cameron, authority finance director, said in March that sequestration would amount to “a 5 percent cut across the board for public housing.”
In other business, Douglas said a formal dedication ceremony is planned for July for the Village at Arlington, which has replaced the demolished 1938-vintage Westlake Terrace.
The village has 120 rental apartments. The first phase of 60 apartments is fully occupied, and the second phase has 32 of its 60 apartments occupied and is expected to be fully occupied next month, Douglas said.