75 city workers get pink slips in East Chicago

In a move that has been rumored since state legislators passed a tax reform package in March, Personnel Director Rich Gomez on Tuesday confirmed that some 50 employees received pink slips Monday and that 25 more workers will have opted for voluntary retirement or been fired by today.

Gomez said a second wave of cuts is expected in October, with the city likely to privatize some services and launch cutbacks that could signal the end of twice-weekly trash pickups.

The city's police, fire and emergency service departments have escaped cutbacks, Gomez said, but every city department will be reviewed for potential cuts. Reductions to date amount to about 10 percent of the city's workforce, he said, and by 2010, the payroll could be cut in half. "We have an $18 million shortfall in our city budget," he said. "Until we take care of that, we'll continue with the plan to downsize and streamline our operations."

Mayor George Pabey -- who during his first campaign against Robert A. Pastrick pledged to trim a city workforce that was among the state's most bloated -- was in New York for a festival and was unavailable for comment.

Cities and schools in northern Lake County, including Whiting, Gary and Hammond, will suffer deep revenue losses under a tax cap plan passed by legislators this spring. East Chicago's payroll was last trimmed significantly in 2004 under Pastrick, though many of those jobs were restored during his election battle with Pabey.

Alicia Rodriguez, a former Pabey ally who's since become one his harshest critics, complained the cuts were not based on seniority, but on loyalty. She was fired Monday from her job as a special projects officer -- a casualty, she says, of partisan politics.

"Everybody can see that there had to be cuts, but you can't cut someone just because they don't vote the way you want," she said.