Bill Dolan, Times of Northwest Indiana
bill.dolan@nwi.com
CROWN POINT | Shrinking local government comes at a cost. Dante Rondelli, the council's finance director, said Tuesday he is budgeting between $1.5 million and $2 million to pay unemployment benefits that federal law mandates must be paid for as many as 150 employees whose jobs are planned for termination.
The council is in the midst of responding to state-mandated tax cuts and reduced collections associated with an underperforming economy by cutting its 2010 spending levels by 15 percent, primarily through job cuts.
Rondelli said the people who lose those jobs don't just vanish as a public responsibility. "The federal government mandates us to pay unemployment benefits," he said.
Valerie Kroeger, assistant communications director for the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, said people who lose their full-time jobs through no fault of their own are eligible for unemployment benefits ranging from $75 to 415 per week for 79 weeks. "The average benefit is about $300 she said."
Rondelli urged the council cut the cost of reducing payroll by eliminating jobs that already are vacant and for which no benefits need be paid. He said job turnover typically creates between 30 and 40 vacancies within the county's more than 1,600 full-time jobs.
County Councilwoman Elsie Franklin, D-Gary, agrees. "I have this thing about not laying off people and the misery that causes," she said. "We need to start with the vacancies because we are not going to fill them, and it's not hurting anybody. Councilwoman Christine Cid, D-East Chicago, echoed, "That would be the easiest."
However, Lake County Councilman Tom O'Donnell said the strategy has its own risks. "What if that vacancy happens to be a court (stenographer) and that's the court's only (stenographer)? He said the court might well issue a mandate requiring the council to fill that position.
Although the county has been under a hiring freeze for more than a year, the council has given elected officials and department heads permission to fill more than 90 vacancies during that time period.