Published: Thursday, April 30, 2009
Unpaid leave for Arlington city workers
An unexpected $900,000 budget hole forces the city to require many city employees to take furloughs without pay.
ARLINGTON -- City officials were $900,000 too optimistic.
The city is collecting less sales tax revenue -- the funding that keeps most small cities afloat -- than what officials initially projected for the year, leaving it with a $900,000 hole in its $12 million budget.
About 100 city employees learned Tuesday that in order to help fill that hole, they must take eight unpaid furlough days and four unpaid holidays spread out over remainder of the year.
This translates into about a 5 percent cut in pay for each employee and a savings of about $175,000 to the city, spokeswoman Kristin Banfield said.
The city's firefighters and police department employees are exempt from the furlough schedule.
Sales tax revenue, which provides nearly 40 percent of the city's general-fund income, is down about 18 percent from the city's conservative expectations. The decreased collection in tax revenue was caused mostly by a lack of construction in the city, she said.
"With this economic crisis, we knew we had to make some cuts," Banfield said. "The furloughs will help us fill the budget shortfall hole."
Councilwoman Marilyn Oertle said she hopes the furloughs are a temporary solution.
"The City Council goes over the money every month. We and city administration did the best we could with what we had in order to preserve jobs and still stay operational," Oertle said. "It's tough on our dedicated employees, but we have to provide services to the taxpayers. It's their money."
Mayor Margaret Larson told city workers Tuesday that most mayors in the state are making similar announcements to their employees.
"She praised our crews for their hard work and told us that the economy will turn around. We just don't know when," Banfield said. "We're starting to see money flowing again, but construction and building will be the last thing to come back."
The unpaid holidays city employees are scheduled to take are Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Veterans Day. The eight furlough days are scheduled at about one a month.
A nine-year veteran city building inspector was laid off in March, several other positions have been left vacant, and some employees have scheduled unpaid leave, saving the city another $205,000. Accounting changes, such as rerouting income into the city's general fund instead of capital projects, will take care of another $393,000 of the budget hole, Banfield said.
In addition, training and travel have been curtailed, and many departments are coming up with plans to cut costs because $127,000 remains in the shortfall hole.
"People have done amazing work to save money," she said. "We're also working with police and fire to make concessions to help plug the hole and they've been very helpful at the bargaining table."
Reaction at the employee meetings was subdued, but most people came away happy to have a job and understanding the cuts the city has to make in order to have a balanced budget, Banfield said.
"This is definitely stressful to employees, but we heard a lot of thank-yous for preserving as many jobs as we can," she said. "People are understanding, given that schools, other municipalities and private businesses are going through similar budget cuts."
Reporter Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427, gfiege@heraldnet.com.
The city is collecting less sales tax revenue -- the funding that keeps most small cities afloat -- than what officials initially projected for the year, leaving it with a $900,000 hole in its $12 million budget.
About 100 city employees learned Tuesday that in order to help fill that hole, they must take eight unpaid furlough days and four unpaid holidays spread out over remainder of the year.
This translates into about a 5 percent cut in pay for each employee and a savings of about $175,000 to the city, spokeswoman Kristin Banfield said.
The city's firefighters and police department employees are exempt from the furlough schedule.
Sales tax revenue, which provides nearly 40 percent of the city's general-fund income, is down about 18 percent from the city's conservative expectations. The decreased collection in tax revenue was caused mostly by a lack of construction in the city, she said.
"With this economic crisis, we knew we had to make some cuts," Banfield said. "The furloughs will help us fill the budget shortfall hole."
Councilwoman Marilyn Oertle said she hopes the furloughs are a temporary solution.
"The City Council goes over the money every month. We and city administration did the best we could with what we had in order to preserve jobs and still stay operational," Oertle said. "It's tough on our dedicated employees, but we have to provide services to the taxpayers. It's their money."
Mayor Margaret Larson told city workers Tuesday that most mayors in the state are making similar announcements to their employees.
"She praised our crews for their hard work and told us that the economy will turn around. We just don't know when," Banfield said. "We're starting to see money flowing again, but construction and building will be the last thing to come back."
The unpaid holidays city employees are scheduled to take are Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Veterans Day. The eight furlough days are scheduled at about one a month.
A nine-year veteran city building inspector was laid off in March, several other positions have been left vacant, and some employees have scheduled unpaid leave, saving the city another $205,000. Accounting changes, such as rerouting income into the city's general fund instead of capital projects, will take care of another $393,000 of the budget hole, Banfield said.
In addition, training and travel have been curtailed, and many departments are coming up with plans to cut costs because $127,000 remains in the shortfall hole.
"People have done amazing work to save money," she said. "We're also working with police and fire to make concessions to help plug the hole and they've been very helpful at the bargaining table."
Reaction at the employee meetings was subdued, but most people came away happy to have a job and understanding the cuts the city has to make in order to have a balanced budget, Banfield said.
"This is definitely stressful to employees, but we heard a lot of thank-yous for preserving as many jobs as we can," she said. "People are understanding, given that schools, other municipalities and private businesses are going through similar budget cuts."
Reporter Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427, gfiege@heraldnet.com.
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