FeedsFirefighters propose wage freeze to help cash-strapped city
With a 2009-2010 budget in place, officials in the City of Wayne have followed the philosophy: hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
Wayne City Council members approved an $18 million budget for the coming fiscal year that spelled out drastic staff cuts and discontinued programs. City Manager John Zech said the cuts were necessary because the temporary closure of the Ford Motor Michigan Truck plant and a drop in property values combined to steal about $4 million from the city revenue stream.
“All things considered, there weren’t a whole lot of choices,” said Zech.
Under the budget, several department head positions would be reduced to part-time spots, including the director of parks and recreation, the community development director and the personnel/assistant city manager spot. The assistant parks and recreation director spot was eliminated, entirely. When the budget was approved last week, public works director Tom MacDonald added his name to the list: he was one of several city employees who opted for retirement.
The city reduced its overall work force from 157 full-time equivalent employees to 111. Some of that lost time will be made up with part-timers-the city would employ about 83 part-time equivalent workers, an increase from the 63.36 on city payroll last year.
“We’re in the process of working with all the affected employees now,” said Zech.
Full-timers will be offered the opportunity to work in part-time roles, said Zech. Community Development Director Peter McInerney, along with Assistant City Manager Bob English indicated they would do that. MacDonald has, too. Alexander took a new job with Miracle Playground Equipment, the firm that helped bring the Boundless Playground to the city.
The city has seen some savings in a plan to reduce the number of meetings City Attorney Dick Clark attends. The Wayne Professional Firefighter’s Association has tentatively offered to take a wage freeze for the 2009/2010 fiscal year, rather than the 3 percent salary increase they are guaranteed through their contract, which expires next year. English said that would save about $60,000. The only condition the firefighters put on the offer was that the funds go into the city general fund.
“I think they deserve a lot of credit,” said English. “It works out great for both sides. It’s nice that we can continue to have such a good relationship with our fire department.”
Zech said another city union, the Technical Professional Office Workers of Michigan (TPOAM), which represents the parks and recreation and public works employees, is considering concessions, too.
“There might be some kind of agreement within the next few days,” said Zech, who added that he’d like to bring some full-timers back to those departments.
“It’s such a big department, you need a full-time person running it,” he said.
The staff reductions may cause another change at city hall, too. It may only be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., rather than 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The change would allow staffers to get more accomplished.
English said the city was looking at other ways to further trim the budget, too.
“You never give up,” he said.
