9 months ago
Mayor Robert Reichert is proposing job cuts, worker furloughs and eliminating paid holidays in his 2010 budget.
The mayor's budget, delivered to the Macon City Council tonight, recognizes the challenging economy but does not call for layoffs, according to a copy of the mayor's talk provided to 13WMAZ.
Reichert is asking the council to approve an $111.9 million budget, $12.9 million less than this year's. That's about 11 percent less. The portion paid out of the city's general fund would be $69 million - about $1.32 million less than this year. That's about 2 percent less.
The problems facing the city, Reichert said, including declining revenue from sales tax and other sources; higher health care costs and the lack of a current tax digest. The city is also paying higher fuel costs, up 250 percent in five years, and higher maintenance costs due to its aging fleet of vehicles, Reichert said.
To remedy that, he proposes buying 30 new police cars, three new fire trucks and three new garbage trucks.
To improve the city's technology, Reichert also wants to buy 150 new computers, to replace ones that are more than 10 years old, and upgrade the city's software from Microsoft Office 2000 to 2007.
Some of the ways he proposes to reduce the budget: using $2 million in SPLOST money to pay for leases on those new vehicles; no new pay raises for city employees; eliminating 33 full-time jobs that are now vacant; requiring all non-essential employees to take one day a month as an unpaid furlough; and eliminating paid holidays for the entire workforce.
About 600 of the city's 1280 employees will be affected by the furloughs.
Not included in the furloughs are sworn police officers, firefighters, and garbage collectors.
Councilman Alveno Ross says the cuts are better than layoffs.
But Councilman Tom Ellington worries about the impact of 21 unpaid work days, resulting in about an eight percent pay cut for employees.
He says there is potential there for knocking some employees below the poverty line, and that is not acceptable.
He says he wants to make sure that everybody working for the city of Macon is properly compensated.
Reichert says he hopes to decrease the furlough days if the economy improves.
