City Announces 130 Layoffs

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Approximately 130 city workers were told Friday that they will be out of work in a month due to budget restraints.

The layoff notices were handed out Friday as the result of the city's nearly $96 million budget gap, with additional layoffs possible, NBC 4's Patrick Preston reported.

The layoff process announced Nov. 14 began Friday to avoid further delays that may have necessitated additional layoffs.

In the first round of layoffs, the recreation and parks department was affected with the largest number of cuts at 44 layoff notices that affected every section of the department. The recreation division and park maintenance sections were most affected, officials said.

The recreation and parks department endured more than double the number of layoffs than the next hardest-hit agency -- the department of development, which lost 18 positions.

The layoffs are effective on Feb. 22, which gives the city council time to restore the jobs if they desire.

Council spokesman John Ivanic said the council would try to restore as many jobs as possible, though he could not say whether that would, in fact, be possible.

The council has yet to vote on the final budget and is expected to do so in early February, before the layoffs take effect.

As part of the cost-cutting, the Milo-Grogran Recreation center closed earlier in January and the city plans to close ten additional recreation centers by Feb. 21. The 12th recreation center, Douglas, will become a part-time facility with reduced hours.

According to the city, 94 of the layoffs break down as follows:
• Three cuts from public safety: two from fire and one from police.
• Two cuts from the mayor's office: one each from EBOC and education.
• Five cuts from finance: three from facilities and one each from the director's office and fleet.
• Eighteen cuts from development: seven from building services, five from neighborhood services, three from planning, two from economic development and one from housing.
• Eight cuts from health.
• Forty-four cuts from recreation and parks.
• Fourteen cuts from public service: 13 from refuse and one from parking violations.

The departments affected by the remaining 36 layoffs are not yet known.

In the meantime, Mayor Michael Coleman's office said the city unions have asked for more time to respond to the mayor's request that they give up pay raises in 2009.

Coleman's representative said it's reasonable to give the unions until Monday to get back to them given the need to reach out to union leadership and members.

If the unions do not accept a freeze in pay, the mayor has said more layoffs and service cuts will be needed to balance the city's budget.

Health insurance for employees laid off during this round will terminate on March 31, 2009.

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