City Drafting First Policy on Layoffs

Officials are drafting the city’s first layoff policy in anticipation of major budget cutbacks forced by a projected $6-million revenue shortfall.

The city’s 15 department directors last week submitted fiscal year 1993-94 budget recommendations to the Finance Department. Each director offered two plans, one that cuts 5% from last year’s budget and a second that would trim 10%. City Manager Kevin J. Murphy will meet with the directors this week to discuss the proposed cuts.

In following weeks, city officials will compile an overall budget, complete with proposed elimination of some municipal services and “substantial” layoffs, and review the plan with the city’s seven employee associations before presenting it to the public and the City Council in April.

“I think everybody feels a high level of anxiety even if they know they will not be affected,” Personnel Director Duane Munson said. “A policy will take a lot of uncertainty out of (who gets laid off), but it doesn’t take the pain out of it.”

The layoff policy, slated to go before the council by early March, will spell out the order of layoffs and allow directors to notify personnel earlier if their jobs are in danger. Munson said that under the current system, the city could not distribute layoff notices until just before the interim budget is adopted in June, but with the new policy, he will be able to notify workers of impending layoffs by the end of March.

“We don’t have a layoff policy because we have never had a use for one,” Murphy said. As for the number of positions to be affected, “we don’t really know yet, but it will be substantially more than last year,” he said.

Last year, the city eliminated 12 part-time positions to help pare down the budget by $4 million. Many of those part-timers were later rehired.

To minimize layoffs, officials are not filling positions left open by turnover or retirement. Additionally, they are looking to consolidate municipal services.

“We hope we can keep basic services and reduce personnel involved by combining jobs,” said Lt. Paul Henisey, executive officer in the Newport Beach Police Department. “We are looking at the distinct possibility of reducing personnel. That does have a morale impact, and it is tough to deal with because we don’t have much concrete we can say to console people.”

Dennis Danner, finance director, said his department will assemble all 15 budget recommendations for internal distribution by March 1. Within about a week, the employee associations will get their first look at the proposals.

The city manager will meet with employees and department directors through March. The preliminary budget is scheduled to be given to the council members April 21 and must be adopted by the end of June.