Financial pinch results in layoffs, demotions
By Kevin Kelley
Fairview Park
Published April 5, 2006

As a result of a reorganization of city government, three full-time employees and five part-time employees are being laid off, Mayor Eileen Patton said.

The reorganization, required to eliminate a projected budget deficit of $1.2 million, was structured in a way that avoids layoffs of police officers and firefighter paramedics and keeps city services on the streets, the mayor stressed.

By a 5 to 0 vote, City Council approved the budget for the remainder of 2006 at a special meeting Friday evening.

In the police department, the position of captain is being permanently eliminated. Effective April 14, Capt. Rich Deem will be reassigned to the position of lieutenant, according to civil service bumping procedures. Also, a lieutenant will be reassigned to sergeant, and a sergeant will be reassigned to patrolman.

The last two demotions are expected to be reversed this fall after a lieutenant in the department retires.

A layoff of a patrolman will be avoided because one officer is about to enter a one-year tour of duty in the military reserves.

In the fire department, the position of assistant fire chief is being eliminated. Ordinarily, the assistant chief would be bumped down to the position of firefighter/paramedic. But because Assistant Chief Bill Standen is not certified as a paramedic, as required by city ordinance, he will be out of a job April 14.

At City Hall, the purchasing clerk position is being eliminated. A part-time computer technician was laid off last month. In the service department, one employee is being laid off. Three part-time workers in that department were let go in March.

In the senior services department, a part-time kitchen employee was let go, and a social worker’s hours were reduced by three each week. Van transportation for seniors is being reduced, with priority given to physician visits, prescription pickups and grocery trips.

Members of the city’s three unions, which represent police, fire and service department workers, are being asked to increase by 200 percent (from $50 a month to $150) their payment for the high-end health care plan. If the union agrees to this, Patton said, the result would be a savings of $180,000 anually to the city. Sixteen non-union administration employees have already accepted the new health plan to help reduce costs, Patton said.

The budget cuts come as a result of sharp drops in revenue from a variety of sources, the mayor said. Projected revenue for 2006 is $8.1 million, down from $8.571 million in 2005, Patton said.

The closure of Westgate and recently announced layoffs at the Fairview School District will decrease anticipated income taxes. The state government cut $81,000 from the local government funds it annual provides the city. And the county recently informed the city its property taxes would decline by $134,000.

But the biggest hit the city faces is the closure of two NASA Glenn Research Center buildings on Brookpark Road which housed 521 employees, the single largest group of workers in the city. NASA Glenn’s decision to transfer these jobs south across Brookpark Road and out of Fairview Park will cost the city $631,000 in payroll taxes, Patton said.

“That hit us right between the eyes,” she said.

Patton told West Life she originally proposed to the unions in February a package which avoided layoffs but required a 5 percent pay cuts for all city employees, beginning with the mayor. This proposal was rejected by all three unions.

Patton said this was the first time she has had to lay off city employees.

“It’s been a painful experience for all of us,” said Patton, who said she personally informed city workers affected by the cuts. “My goal was not to lay anyone off.”

Even with the $1.2 million in cuts, the 2006 budget will exhaust the $634,000 in reserves the city carried over from 2005.

“While we are facing difficult times now, I will not tax our way out of this and ask the residents for additional money,” Patton said. “We will tighten our belts as this is about balancing budgets and living within our means.”