Carson Staff to Get Next Week Off--Without Pay

In yet another sign of the worsening economy, the city of Carson will close City Hall during Christmas week and place its 280 full-time employees on an unpaid leave to help cut costs and avoid more layoffs.

The work furloughs amount to a 2% pay cut for each full-time employee and are expected to save the city $157,338, City Administrator Larry Olson said. Even with the savings, however, the city anticipates it will be $2 million in the red when the fiscal year ends June 30. Olson said it remains unclear how the city will make up the difference.

The City Council on Tuesday approved the one-time furloughs by a 4-0 vote, with Councilwoman Vera Robles DeWitt absent. The plan, approved by the city’s four employee unions, calls for full-time workers to take 30 hours off with no pay.

Next week, City Hall, the city’s Corporation Yard and Job Clearinghouse will be closed. (City Hall is generally closed on Fridays because employees work a four-day week.) City parks and the Community Center will not be affected by the furloughs.

Nate Williams, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal employees Local 809, said the city asked employees to agree to the furloughs without conditions.

“The feeling among the employees is that they want to do their part to assist the city because their jobs are on the line,” said Williams, who represents the city’s largest union. “We felt that by going along with the furlough without restrictions, it puts the ball in the city’s court to find other sources of revenue and not look toward employees” for further cuts.

Seven temporary city employees were laid off this month. Nine city jobs were eliminated in July, when the city adopted a $29.1-million spending plan. That budget was $500,000 less than last year’s and is based on anticipated revenues of $26.4 million. Sales tax revenue, which accounts for roughly half the city’s income, has slumped dramatically, due in part to the recession.