Craig Mauger, Courier-Times News Editor
Ten City of New Castle employees will lose their jobs this weekend as a result of cuts being made to the city's budget.
And Mayor Jim Small says more cuts are on the way.
During a presentation on Wednesday, Small told a crowd of about 150 people of his plan to bring the city's budget in line with cuts made by the state.
In addition to 10 layoffs, a vacant paramedic position in the EMS Department and a firefighter position, which city officials believe will soon become open, will be cut.
The reductions come just days after the state told the city it needed to trim $1.5 million from its proposed budget of $15.1 million.
Small said city officials had been working with the state to lessen the cuts. Through those discussions, the city arrived at a budget of about $14.3 million or about $800,000 less than its original proposal. The $14.3 million budget is awaiting the final approval of the state.
The mayor said the staff cuts announced Wednesday would save the city about $200,000 this year and $400,000 next year.
Small said more cuts are on the way, including what he called "several reductions in management."
During his presentation, he said the city couldn't anticipate the effects that reduced property taxes and the economic recession would have on the budget.
"Either one by itself might have been manageable without severely impacting staffing and benefits," Small said. "But the two outside influences together have been disastrous."
Small said city officials expect to cut more than $700,000 from health expenditures. He said the city doesn't have the money to continue its current health plan.
"There are thousands of citizens in New Castle ... who would give anything to work for an organization where the lowest hourly wage is $13.58, and to have such a plan at a cost of only $59 a month for a family," Small said. "The health plan is a luxury we cannot continue to afford."
Small's presentation lasted about 18 minutes in the auditorium of the New Castle-Henry County Public Library. The majority of the people in the the crowd were city employees.
One of the city employees in the crowd was Whit Blattner, the president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 1478.
That union includes city employees who aren't members of the fire, police and EMS departments.
Blattner said after the presentation that employees were informed of the cuts on Tuesday. He said he was frustrated that most of the cuts came from AFSCME departments.
"Look at the cuts," Blattner said. "We've got 12 total cuts. Ten of them are from AFSCME."
The mayor said after the presentation that he refuses to cut any further the EMS, fire and police departments.
Blattner also questioned who would do the work that was done by the cut staff members.
Of the 12 positions, six were clerk positions.
Clerk positions in the Building Department, Street Department, Transportation Department, Wastewater Department, Water Department and Utility Office were all cut.
Asked who would be answering the phones, Blattner said, "The answering machine I guess."
People who currently fill positions that are being cut won't necessarily be laid off. AFSCME gives veteran employees "bumping rights," so they can take positions that are filled by people with less seniority.
Nine of the cut positions are in non-utility departments, while three come from the utilities, which are self-funded departments.
Small said those cuts were made as proactive measures to prevent the need for utility increases.
Of all the cuts, Council President Sandy York said she was disappointed by the way the state had trimmed the city's budget.
"This isn't just affecting our employees," York said. "This is going to affect the services that we provide as a city for our community."
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