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Letter to the editor

If city jobs go, so do services

Budget cuts that endanger 88 jobs may affect libraries and more.

By MIKE DONILA
Published June 29, 2007

CLEARWATER - The city is expected to cut about 88 city jobs next fiscal year, almost half of them in parks and recreation.

But this round of cuts would include no rank-and-file police officers or firefighters, officials say.

About half of the jobs targeted for the chopping block are currently filled. The cuts would save about $4.4-million in salaries and benefits, but would mean the loss of library hours, recreation centers and beautification projects.

Job losses would touch most departments, including the city manager's office, economic development, finance, planning, engineering, police and fire administration, and information technology.

The jobs that would be eliminated pay from $29, 000 to $140, 300 a year in salary and benefits.

The positions include public information officers, grant writers, assistants, managers, grounds crew members and mechanics. Roughly six management or supervisory positions will be cut, including a fire plans examiner and public works administrator.

City Council members will make the final decision on the proposed cuts this summer as they consider a budget for the 2007-08 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

As a result of the reductions in staff, it could take city workers longer to handle requests for nonemergency work, Mayor Frank Hibbard said.

"Whenever you have fewer people working there will be more work for the other folks, so our response times will be lessened, " Hibbard said. "But with personnel being such a major portion of our budget, that's the only way to make meaningful cuts."

City Manager Bill Horne said the city will try to find new positions for the workers who lose their jobs.

But Human Resources director Joe Roseto said not everyone whose job would be eliminated would be placed in the same department or make the same salary as they do now.

Clearwater's cuts are on par with those proposed by other Tampa Bay area governments. Pinellas County is considering eliminating 48 jobs and 65 vacant slots. St. Petersburg may lay off 48 workers and eliminate another 22 unfilled jobs.

The cuts come as local governments wrestle with a new legislative mandate to push local property tax collections next year below this year's levels. How deep those cuts go is based on how much the governments' tax collections grew during the preceding five years.

Clearwater has to cut 7 percent, or about $3.7-million, compared with this year's property tax collections.

And the city will not collect another $2.3-million that it could have expected to take in during the 2007-08 fiscal year as property values increased.

Parks and Recreation director Kevin Dunbar said he's held a number of positions open since last fall, so he can move "as many people as possible" into them. But, he said, residents will see a difference in the services his department provides.

He said the beach will be cleaned less often, and library and recreation center hours will be reduced.

Stephen Sarnoff, president of a city-employee union, said he doesn't believe residents realize what is happening.

"It's bad because all those jobs represent services that we provide ... so citizens and visitors won't get the same services, " said Sarnoff, president of Communications Workers of America Local 3179.

To prepare for new state-mandated cuts, the city in recent months has identified $7.5-million in overall savings, so it's ahead of the curve. That means there's a chance some jobs could be saved.

For example, city officials have decided not to cut a seven-member Fire Department squad that performs heavy-duty excavation rescues.

And the city's fiscal year 2007-08 spending plan includes funding for four school resource officers - jobs that were recently in jeopardy.

City and school leaders plan to meet in July to figure out how to pay for the program.

The city does plan to eliminate its Officer Friendly program, allowing it to reassign two officers who now meet with students and neighborhood groups to promote safety.

The city, under a soft hiring freeze since January, has about 1, 750 full-time and 80 part-time positions currently filled.

Horne promised that no rank-and-file police officers or firefighters would be laid off now, but that could change if voters in January approve the state's proposed super homestead exemptions, which would cut into property tax revenue even further.

"I don't see how we couldn't do that when police and fire represent 49 percent of our general fund, " he said. "But my policy is to do all I can to avoid it."

Mike Donila can be reached at mdonila@sptimes.com or 445-4160.

Fast Facts:

What's next

Within days, the City Council will get a copy of Clearwater's preliminary budget for fiscal year 2007-08, which begins Oct. 1. Members will hold a budget workshop July 16 to discuss what changes, if any, to make to the annual spending plan. So far, the administration has identified roughly $7.5-million in savings and targeted about 88 full-time jobs for the chopping block.

[Last modified June 28, 2007, 22:27:14]