Most city employees remain tight-lipped about the potential of
one in four losing their jobs this week, but beyond the reticence
lingers stress and plummeting morale that have been absent from
City Hall for decades.
Most city employees remain tight-lipped about the potential of one in four losing their jobs this week, but beyond the reticence lingers stress and plummeting morale that have been absent from City Hall for decades.
Web Developer John Diego is one of 64 employees who could lose their jobs if the council signs off on City Administrator Tom Haglund’s layoff recommendations Wednesday night. The former Oracle techie, who makes $116,051 at Gilroy (including benefits), came to the city 15 months ago, but since then the economy has taken a nose dive.
The general fund deficit has grown from $3.9 million when the council passed the budget in June to an expected $6 million, and staff predicts a $7 million shortfall next fiscal year, up from $3.5 million – all mostly thanks to shrinking tax receipts and a practical standstill in fee-generating development.
For Diego and dozens of others just like him, though, the lessons of the past year have all but shattered the conventional wisdom that public jobs mean a guarantee.
“I took this city job thinking it’d be more stable than the private sector, but it looks like I’ll be going back up to the Bay Area,” Diego said Monday.
“Morale’s been bad ever since the rumors started going around. It went from wait and see to now people getting their resumes ready and trying to look for other jobs, which will be difficult,” Diego added. “Even the morale for those not considered (for layoffs) is pretty bad. People just don’t want to stick around on a sinking ship.”
Mayor Al Pinheiro said he plans to buoy the ship by making tough decisions.
“You have to make decisions where you can to get yourself at a level where you can start to build yourself back up,” Pinheiro said. “We cannot continue to hope for better days as we have in the past. We kept not laying people off and drawing on the reserves and hoping that days would get better, but I think this whole thing is going to get worse.”
Like Pinheiro, Gartman said he spent part of the weekend reviewing Haglund’s plan and said he wants a better sense of how the city will function without a quarter of its workforce.
“I want to see what this new organization would look like. What I don’t want is a bunch of chiefs still hanging around when there aren’t very many workers,” Gartman said. “The morale is horrible at City Hall, and now you’re going to overwork them? I don’t think so.”
Councilman Dion Bracco said he wanted to put more faces to names but cautioned that employees should still brace for the worse and “not start thinking the council’s going to pull a rabbit out of the hat at the last minute.”
Gartman added that the city needs to dig even deeper and return to its “core value” of public safety.
“If it has nothing to do with public safety, then I think we have to postpone it,” Gartman said in regard to major infrastructure undertakings such as road, bridge and park improvements, a host of which Haglund has recommended the council delay to spare any more contributions from the general fund, about 78 percent of which finances police and fire operations.
Council members have worried about the impacts on public safety that could come from laying off up to eight sworn officers, two of whom are retirement-bound, and another eight community and multi-service officers who help beat cops and higher ranking personnel spend more time on the streets. The fire department did not identify one regular firefighter, only relief firefighters, but both departments’ most severe cuts represent about 12 percent of their respective budgets.
The majority of employees interviewed either declined to comment or would only say that they planned to hold reactions until the council made a decision.
“I’m waiting for the council’s decision,” said one city employee who declined to give her name “out of fear.”
“Nobody’s going to want to put themselves further up the ladder, if you know what I mean,” the employee said. “It’s all just wait and see.”
Engineering Technician Laurie Loveless said she would also wait until Wednesday.
“I don’t want to jump to conclusions,” Loveless said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to communicate to the council … We’re going to be there in force.”
Community Service Officer Angela Locke-Paddon has also found herself on the chopping block after 17 years with the police department. She is a part time employee who cannot work overtime and does not collect benefits. Recently she has led the city’s graffiti abatement program, which has resulted in dozens of arrests while rallying an equal number of residents to watch for and paint over vandalism.
“Everything’s happened so fast,” Locke-Paddon said from her home Friday as her 7-year-old daughter played loudly in the background. “The council really needs to think about this … They won’t be saving a lot, but they’ll be losing a lot.”
Other cost-cutting options include reducing staffing at fire stations to minimum levels or eliminating fee waivers for developers, which cost the general fund $1.6 million a year. And the city could also increase revenue by raising facility use fees or – granted on a one-time basis – by selling city property. There’s also the idea of teaming up with Morgan Hill or Hollister for planning and building services, Haglund wrote.
Earlier this month the body voted 6-0 to buy back $42.7 million worth of auction rate notes it issued in 2003 because interest rates have sky-rocketed. Buying back the notes will cut the general fund reserves from $16.6 million to $14.2 million – down from $26 million a year ago – and it will also lower Gilroy’s investment portfolio balance from $60.7 million to $17.3 million. The money will flow through the city’s water and sewer funds, which will run debts along with the city’s traffic and public facilities’ funds thanks to sluggish development and the purchase of Gilroy Gardens in February for $13.2 million.
Upcoming meeting
What: Special council meeting to discuss layoffs
When: 6 p.m., Wednesday
Where: City Hall, 7351 Rosanna St.
Layoff recommendations
Layoffs FY 07-08 Savings FY08-09 Savings
– Option 1* 44 $3.3 M $6.7 M
– Option 2** 64 $2.8 M $8.2 M
* Includes deferring infrastructure projects as well as employees
** Employees only
Source: City of Gilroy
