First of two parts
City Hall has been financially strapped for four years. Periodically, it has been shedding employees by the dozens.
How did City Hall “save” an announced $2 million the other day after it “laid off” 14 workers who were not actually dropped from the roster?
If they discharged workers didn’t want to, they did not have to leave the building.
Although all of the affected employees have not yet given their answers, they were offered the option of a golden handshake or permitted to transfer laterally, that is accept a position elsewhere in the building at their present salaries.
If the new job paid less, the laid off/rehired person would continue to receive his previous salary.
City Manager John Nachbar was sought out for an explanation.
“The savings,” Mr. Nachbar said, “lie in the fact that all of the old positions, a total of 19 or 20, are eliminated.
“The annual expenditures associated with those positions are about $2 million (including each employee’s full package, salary and benefits).”
Here is where density may set in.
The 10 to 14 laid off employees who will be shifting to new offices are taking over chairs that once were fully staffed. However, since the present recession began, these jobs have been filled in kind of a crazy quiltwork pattern, as Mr. Nachbar will explain later. Mr.Nachbar and his predecessors imaginatively have staffed the positions on an as-needed basis.
(To be continued)
