Downey : City Manager Imposes Hiring, Travel Freeze

Officials have frozen non-emergency purchases, canceled city-funded travel and slapped a hiring freeze on city jobs.

City Manager Gerald Caton announced the moves Tuesday as short-term measures to offset an expected loss of revenue from the state.

Caton said more drastic cuts may be necessary after the state adopts its budget. The hiring freeze will apply to police officers and firefighters, who were exempt from a hiring slowdown in effect since January, 1991.

In a related action, the council approved for next year a tentative budget of $54 million, which is about $1.5 million less than the current budget. Most of the savings will result from not filling staff vacancies and postponing city improvement projects.

The council also approved increasing 88 city fees and adding seven new ones, an action expected to raise about $25,000 annually, Assistant City Manager Lee Powell said. Increased fees range from fortune-teller permits to water-service connections. The new fees include fines for false fire alarms and releases of hazardous waste.