City Hall Cutbacks Hit Management; More Layoffs Likely : Budget: Officials trim $700,000 by laying off four administrators, cutting back managers’ salaries.

Four top Norwalk administrators were laid off this week as city officials grimly struggled to balance a budget that took an unexpected downturn this month.

City officials said more jobs are likely to be axed in the coming months.

Norwalk will save about $450,000 with the elimination of jobs held by City Treasurer Olivia Silverio, Director of Community Development Gregg Yamachika, Transportation Engineer Carmen Gendusa and Grant Administrator Tony Canariato.

Remaining department heads will take a 5% cut in pay and a 30% cut in transportation allowances and will not get a planned 5% cost-of-living increase this year, for a total of $250,000 in savings.

The cuts amount to a 35% reduction in management expenditures, city officials said. Last year, the city laid off 10 of its 222 employees, including one manager, and eliminated 34 unfilled positions.

“We are in a situation where we need to (cut) the expenditure level as much as possible,” Assistant City Manager Sanford Groves said. “As we approach midyear, things have gotten worse for this city. It will take years to recover.”

In the past, Norwalk’s retail sales tax generated the largest portion of general fund revenues. But with the decline in consumer spending during the recession, that money has dried up, Groves said.

“We are not in this situation because of wild spending” by the city, he said.

Norwalk, which serves a population of about 94,000, faces a $6-million projected deficit in its $24-million operating budget, $2 million more than the city originally expected. The money the city will save through the layoffs, Groves said, is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to balancing the budget.

This month, the council is considering several additional money-saving options, including terminating its contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in favor of its own, smaller police force, and reducing the frequency of street sweeping to twice a month from four times a month. Other options for making up the shortfall include imposing a utility tax on residents and dipping into a $4-million reserve account, Groves said. He said city officials hoped to save the reserve funds to cover $1 million in revenue cuts that are expected when the Legislature approves the state budget later this month.

“We have even gone through and taken light bulbs out of City Hall,” Groves said. “We are operating right down to the bare bones.”

Gendusa, 50, said he had heard rumors that he would be laid off but said it still came as a shock when he got the official word Monday. The layoffs were effective that afternoon.

“I never thought it would happen,” said Gendusa, who had been with the city for 27 years and made $60,000 a year. “I didn’t want to believe it.”

Gendusa and the other laid-off managers will receive three months’ severance pay.

Gendusa said he has a lead on a job in Orange County and is trying hard to stay upbeat. “I just have to buckle down,” he said. “I’m not the only one getting laid off. There are a lot of people losing jobs these days.”

The work done by the four managers will be spread among the remaining 17 administrators, Groves said. The finance manager will take over the duties of the treasurer, and the duties of the community development director will go to the community redevelopment director, he said.

After the layoffs, the mood around City Hall was glum as staff speculated who might be next to go and tried to imagine being saddled with more work.

One department head who asked not to be identified said “morale is as low as it’s ever been” and grumbled that the city will have to somehow compensate the remaining employees for additional work.

“They will have to do something,” she said. “If they don’t, this place will empty out.”

Community Correspondent Suzan Schill contributed to this report.