Orange Plans Pay Cuts, Work Furloughs : Budget: All government buildings except Police and Fire departments would be closed on Fridays. Union employees must approve.

In a severe response to last week’s state budget cuts, the City Council is proposing to slash employee salaries 10% by imposing a mandatory work furlough on more then half its labor force.

The move, when combined with current employee work schedules designed to reduce commuting, would have the net effect of shuttering all government buildings, except those of the police and fire departments, every Friday beginning Oct. 9.

The idea of furloughing employees one out of every 10 working days is an alternative to laying off as many as 118 full-time staffers and 32 part-time workers. It would save the cash-strapped city $1.3 million.

“It would be one of the largest pay cuts that we have heard of if it takes effect,” said Janet Hester, a spokeswoman for the League of California Cities.

The plan comes barely a week after the Legislature and Gov. Pete Wilson agreed on a state budget that cut more than $1 million from the city’s general fund and $1.6 million in Redevelopment Agency property taxes this fiscal year.

“We’re going to have to bite the bullet quickly,” said Councilman William G. Steiner. “We are two months into the fiscal year (and) we’re spending as if we had no cut in revenues.” The proposed pay reductions would come on top of $4.4 million in cuts to the $54.4-million budget adopted by the council in June.

The furlough plan, which must be approved by members of the five targeted unions, would immediately affect 380 of Orange’s 747 city employees.

Half the city work force already stays home on alternate Fridays, the result of schedules that squeeze 10 days of work into nine. The work furlough would mean that all affected employees would stay home every Friday. Residents would be unable to use libraries, apply for permits, reach their elected officials or complain about potholes.

City libraries, which are now open on Saturdays, will remain open that day.

In an effort to save as much as $2 million, the County Board of Supervisors has given preliminary approval to a similar employee work schedule that squeezes 80 hours of work into nine days. The plan, which does not involve furloughs, would virtually shut down county government every other Friday.

Three unions have already approved the concept, and two others will vote today. The Water Department Employees Assn., the Orange Supervisory and Management Assn. and the Mid-Management Assn. all approved the planned salary cut earlier this week.

“Everyone seemed more willing to do this than take a chance at being laid off,” said Joe DeFrancesco, president of the Water Department Employees Assn., who said many members of his group would lose several hundred dollars a month as a result of the cut. “But 10% is 10% and we work hard for that money.”

Irene Carney, president of the local chapter of the Professional, Technical and Clerical Assn., which is scheduled to vote today, said that sentiment in her 70-member group is about evenly divided over whether to accept a salary reduction.

“The layoff people feel the inevitable is down the road and we will have layoffs soon,” Carney said. “They would rather get the inevitable over with.” The Maintenance and Operations Assn. is also scheduled to vote today.

Exempt from the current plans are members of the police and fire departments. Their bargaining units are conducting an independent audit of city finances before agreeing to make concessions.

If the employees voting this week on the plan do not agree to go ahead with the pay cut, the city will begin layoffs shortly, city officials said. If they agree to accept a decrease in their pay, the city has promised, affected workers’ jobs will be safe through June, 1993.

“This is a way to do two things--stop the hemorrhaging from the deficit (in the budget) and guarantee jobs,” Councilman Mike Spurgeon said. “It’s very disruptive when you lay off people.”

If membership of the Professional, Technical and Clerical Assn.--the largest of the affected groups--refuses to agree to the 10% salary reduction, it could put the entire plan in jeopardy, Assistant City Manager Jim Evans said.

“Since most of the City Hall and library employees are in this unit, it wouldn’t be practical to close city hall every Friday” with them working, Evans said.

Evans estimated that the average employee would lose $3,000 in salary over the course of the next 10 months if the furlough plan is enacted.

Officials plan to inform the public through signs and phone recordings that they are closing for business on Fridays as a response to the continuing recession and the state budget cuts.

The council directed staff to draft the plan in a closed session Tuesday. If union agreement follows, council members will formally vote on the furlough and pay cut by the end of the month, Spurgeon said.

Councilwoman Joanne Coontz and other council members justified the closed-door discussion by citing labor relations and personnel exemptions to open meeting laws.

“The rationale is it’s a personnel matter and decisions can be made in closed session,” said Councilwoman Joanne Coontz.

Coontz said she would like to see the city reassess its budget and work on long-term strategies to avoid imposing a furlough in the future.

“It imposes hardship on employees,” Coontz said. “Especially lower-paid employees.”