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Facing a $2.5M-plus shortfall next year, Youngstown may consider unpaid leave
YOUNGSTOWN
As city officials attempt to avoid layoffs to make up a projected $2.5 million to $3 million general-fund deficit next year, one new option brought up was furloughs.
The idea was suggested Thursday at a city council meeting by Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th.
He mentioned one unpaid day a month for certain city employees, but it could be more than that if the city decides to go that way.
Finance Director David Bozanich said the city tried during the 1980s to have some employees work a four-day week and be furloughed on a fifth day but lost a lawsuit over the issue.
Law Director Martin Hume said when he worked for Mahoning County, he was furloughed one day a week at one time and there wasn’t a lawsuit. Hume will look at the legality of furloughs as a possible way to make up the budget shortfall.
Council met with administration officials for about an hour about the impending deficit, largely going over what was discussed at an Oct. 19 meeting when the shortfall initially was discussed.
Another meeting is tentatively set for Nov. 20.
“It’s going to be pain,” Ray said. “There’s going to be cuts.”
The city needs to eliminate about 40 employees by the end of next year, Bozanich said.
Layoffs are a possibility, but Bozanich mentioned that attrition and a buyout program are the first options.
The city, which has about 780 employees, loses about 10 workers a year through attrition, Bozanich said. That’s not enough to avoid a deficit, he said.
A buyout incentive wouldn’t save the city any money during the first year primarily because of the cost of the incentive as well as severance payments to those departing employees for unused sick, vacation and other time, Bozanich said.
The biggest savings through layoffs, Bozanich said, would be in the following departments: police, fire, courts, park, street and health. There are 445 employees in those departments.
Each layoff would save the city about $70,000 a year, except the first year, when it would be $40,000 because of unemployment expenses.
“We need to minimize employees,” Bozanich said.
A key is not filling as many of those positions as possible, and an attrition program, he said, needs to go with other things such as the sale of assets and other increases in revenue.
One possibility, he said, is a hiring freeze for general-fund employees.
The city typically spends more general-fund money than it brings in and has gotten to the point where carryover dollars from previous years are virtually nonexistent.
The biggest general-fund expenses are employee salaries and benefits.