Carson Passes a $29.6-Million Spending Plan : Budget: Many details remain to be worked out, and the plan is contingent on all five city unions agreeing to a wage freeze. The city’s largest union has tentatively backed the proposal.

Almost five months into the fiscal year, the Carson City Council this week approved a $29.6-million spending package that is not complete and that raised as many questions about budget cuts as it answered.

Councilman Michael I. Mitoma said Thursday that council members, by unanimously approving the spending plan, wanted to send a clear message to the city’s unions that the city would forgo large-scale layoffs if the unions would agree to wage and benefit freezes to help balance the budget.

The city’s largest union on Tuesday tentatively agreed to the council’s proposals, but several other city unions have not, threatening the implementation of the spending plan.

Last week, 15 probationary employees were laid off under a “last-in, first-out” directive approved by the council. Of those, eight were from the Parks and Recreation Department, including three fitness trainers who ran the plush Veterans Park sports complex. There are about 330 full-time city employees, Smith said.

As they have in previous meetings on the budget, parks and recreation supporters jammed the council chamber Tuesday to protest the proposed cuts.

However, it remained unclear exactly how many layoffs would occur under the new budget or where cuts would take place. City Administrator Jack Smith and Finance Director Lorraine Oten were directed to craft a complete budget based on the $29.6-million figure and contingent upon union concessions.

Mitoma, who opposes widespread layoffs, said if the unions agree to a “rolling furlough,” or unpaid leave, and the freezing of wages and benefits, as few as five additional full-time employees would be laid off under the new budget.

All of the city’s five unions must agree to the proposals, Mitoma said, because “you can’t put the burden on one union. . . . It’s all or none.”

Local 809 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents about 250 of the city’s workers, agreed Tuesday to give up a 5.5% cost-of-living increase that would have become effective Jan. 1. However, it also asked for a guarantee that there would be no additional layoffs and that the cost-of-living benefit be recouped over a five-year period.

Elaine Flynn, president of the Supervisors Assn., a 24-member union, said the association had rejected the proposed wage and benefits freeze last week but accepted a proposed rolling furlough contingent upon “good faith efforts” at generating new revenue, such as reconsideration of a utility users fee.

“We gave them a plan to completely balance the budget,” Flynn said.

Mayor DeWitt said she voted to adopt the budget so there would be a target figure the city could operate under.

“The fear is that there would be another four months and we would not have a budget,” she said.

On Tuesday, the council gave final approval to an ordinance authored by DeWitt that would withhold council salaries if a budget is not passed by Dec. 20. Future councils will have until the end of July, the first month of the fiscal year, to pass a budget before the withholding penalty begins.