By Christine Kraly and Bill Dolan, Times of Northwest Indiana
christine.kraly@nwi.com; william.dolan@nwi.com
GARY | Mayor Rudy Clay laid off city employees Friday in the wake of a state mandate to trim city hall's budget by $7 million.
The mayor confirmed he reduced the city's payroll by close to 100 people Friday. The layoffs are "across the board," Clay said, hitting several departments, including the mayor's office, city health department, redevelopment office and the Genesis Center.
He said no uniformed police officers or firefighters were involved in the reductions, but at least two civilian fire department employees were let go.
"I think I've got the toughest job of any mayor in America," Clay said.
"Our passion for people keeping their jobs is extremely high," he said. "We want the public to know we didn't just send out pink slips. It's a tough, tough assignment."
He said some workers were notified by letter, while others would be told Friday when they arrived at work. Clay said he made the rounds Friday to notify some workers in person.
Chief of Staff Arlene Colvin said about 75 percent of the laid off workers are union members, but noted that union workers make up a larger percentage of total city staff.
Neither Clay nor City Controller Celita Green knew Friday how much money the layoffs would save the city. Green said it could be another two weeks before exact figures are available.
Elsie Franklin, chairman of the city's Democratic precinct organization, said city schools also were being forced to layoff employees this week.
"It's a dark day for the city," Franklin said.
Last month, state officials set the stage for the layoffs by announcing the city must cut its budget by $7 million to conform with property tax cuts enacted recently by the Indiana General Assembly.
The state actually softened the blow that could have fallen on city hall, by delaying the full-effect of tax cuts this year. City officials will have to grapple with the prospect of more job cuts because it must reduce its 2010 spending levels by tens of millions of dollars.
The once thriving city of 178,000 has suffered hard times since the 1960s when automation in the steel mills began reducing its work forces by tens of thousands, federal subsidies for urban centers dried up and its white middle class fled for the suburbs.
They left behind a community that has dwindled to about 97,000, primarily a population of African Americans where one in four live below the poverty line. Many aspiring black professionals have moved as well.
A recent city survey revealed more than 5,200 houses are vacant and nearly half its commercial downtown properties are abandoned. High crime forces the city to spend about half its budget on law enforcement.
The Indiana Distressed Unit Appeals Board, which is mandating the $7 million budget cuts by the end of this year, also has ordered the city to hire and pay for an outside consulting firm to oversee cost cutting, which will include unspecified employee layoffs.
The board must sign off on the fiscal monitor's contract, the request for proposal of which is expected to go out next week, said Ryan Kitchell, chairman of the appeals board and director of the Indiana Office of Management and Budget.
Kitchell said Thursday the city is not required to notify the state of budget-saving layoffs, and may lay off workers without the monitor in place yet.
Though he did not vow to, Clay said Friday it is possible he could again look to slicing his own paycheck to help save the city some money.
In the midst of legal fights over pay cuts with public safety departments last fall, Clay touted his own self-imposed 20 percent salary cut. His lowered pay lasted for four months last year, but since has bounced back to his $88,000 annual salary.
Teamsters business agent Ted Bilski said Thursday he received a letter from the city notifying him 11 Teamster positions would be eliminated Friday, six of which are vacant positions.
Bilski said he is concerned with how many union workers will be let go versus nonunion staff. He said he has requested to meet with city attorneys to discuss the layoffs.
The city already had laid off more than 40 Teamsters when leaders chose to privatize garbage pickup in recent months, he said.
Times staff writer Marisa Kwiatkowski contributed to this report.