Niles lays off 12 employees due to mounting deficit

By Jordan Cohen

news@vindy.com

NILES

Mayor Thomas Scarnecchia ordered layoffs of 12 city employees Tuesday, attributing them to the city’s rapidly increasing deficit.

His decision to issue the furloughs, six of them in the safety forces, came after state auditors advised the mayor that there is not enough money in the general fund to sustain the current payroll.

Scarnecchia said the layoffs, effective Feb. 10, are three police officers, three firefighters, and six employees in other city departments. City labor contracts require two-week notices for layoffs, which the mayor said will be based on seniority.

“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” said Scarnecchia. The mayor took office Jan. 1.

Not included are employees in the electric, water and sewer departments, whose budgets do not come out of the general fund.

At last week’s city council meeting, a state auditor liaison admonished the mayor for failing to implement a financial recovery plan to get out of fiscal emergency – where Niles has been since October 2014. Scarnecchia said he was hoping to find some alternative funding in an effort to save jobs, but conceded Tuesday that no money is available.

“We are at rock bottom in the general fund and our current deficit is more than $1 million,” the mayor said.

The layoffs are projected to save nearly $600,000 if they continue for the remainder of the year. According to city Auditor Giovanne Merlo, the actual savings, however, are likely to be less because the city will have to pay the furloughed employees unemployment compensation.

The general fund’s financial carryover from 2015, expected to be $700,000 was only $200,000, which compounded the city’s mounting deficit.

“That had a lot to do with it, and now our [recovery] plan will have to be amended because of the shortfall,” Merlo said. The Financial Planning and Supervision Commission, which oversees the plan and city spending, meets today.

“This is real and it’s going to be rough for our officers,” said Police Chief Robert Hinton.

The chief said that his department, which usually numbers 32, is already three patrolmen short.

The three layoffs combined with officers on sick, injured or family leave, will bring staffing down to 25.

“That’s the lowest I’ve ever seen [and] I’m worried about the safety of our officers,” Hinton said.

The problems are similar for fire Chief Dave Danielson, who is concerned that his department layoffs along with scheduled vacation time in several months could force the city to close one of its two fire stations.

“We will now have a total shift of eight guys at each station, but if it goes down to five, I’ll have to close one,” Danielson said, referring to the station on state Route 46.

“There wouldn’t be enough guys to man two trucks [and] that’s a safety issue.”

Scarnecchia and the two chiefs said the city’s only hope is passage of the 0.5 percent income tax increase that will be on the March 15 primary ballot. If voters approve, the increase would generate $2 million annually for the safety forces. Furloughed employees would be brought back.

“If it loses, there will be many more layoffs and they’re inevitable,” the mayor said.

“We’ll have no other recourse.”