Southern Illinois City Scrambles to Pay Bills

Local officials are scrambling to avert a financial crisis as a $230,000 payroll comes due Friday with only $884 in the city’s bank account.

Officials of this financially strapped southern Illinois city laid off 25 employees Monday and the treasurer’s office was closed for the day in cost-saving measures.

But Treasurer Charlotte R. Moore, who lost all of her regular workers in the cutback, said the layoffs might not save enough money to keep the city solvent.

Moore said an expected infusion of money from state sales tax receipts may not provide enough cash to cover the city’s debts, which include the $230,000 city payroll, a $29,000 monthly garbage contract and a monthly $29,000 payment on a $3.4-million lawsuit judgment.

Disputes over payment for garbage pickup and the recent court judgment have added to the city’s problems. Officials have said they must trim about $144,000 a month from the budget to keep the municipality from going bankrupt.

To help Moore’s office function, three workers from other departments were transferred into the treasurer’s office. But Moore said she was unhappy with the transfers, which replaced accountants and account clerks wth clerk-typists and reference clerks.