Are reductions to employee salary and benefit plans proposed to balance the budget?
The proposed budget includes $1.5 million in anticipated General Fund savings due to labor cost reductions. When the national economic crisis first hit and it was apparent that this situation would have a negative impact on the City’s budget, many employees expressed interest in reducing hours, freezing benefits, or accepting work furloughs in order to minimize service impacts on the public and reduce employee layoffs. As a result, the City’s Employee Relations Manager has been negotiating informally or formally with most of our employee groups to achieve cost savings that can reduce overall expenditures and help to close the budget gap.Leading by example have been the City’s Supervisors Association and unrepresented managers. Both of these groups will be subject to mandatory work furloughs, frozen benefit packages, and a suspension of vacation cash out awards. These concessions will generate approximately $840,000 of savings to the General Fund. The Treatment and Patrol Officer units
