Anderson parks department cuts 15 jobs

Employees to be laid off will be contacted Wednesday, and the layoffs will go into effect Jan. 1, Parks and Recreation Department Superintendent Fred Reese said.

The board on Tuesday would not release a copy of the positions to be cut, pending notification of the employees. A full list is expected to be released today.

A couple of the employees will be allowed to retire instead of being laid off, board attorney Evan Broderick said.

"This has been a very difficult process, a very long and lengthy process," Reese said.

A total of 13 full-time and two part-time positions will be eliminated. In addition to the layoffs, five full-time positions will be reduced to part-time.

The parks department's budget has to be slashed from the $2 million it had in 2009 to $750,000 in 2010, in part due to budget cuts from statewide property tax caps.

"We'll make it through," Reese said. "It will be tough, but we'll make it. We have historically one of the greatest parks systems in this area."

Broderick said if the economy or city's revenue improves, the department will try to bring back the laid-off employees.

In the meantime, the department will look at using more volunteers and finding other solutions by looking to nearby parks systems for examples.