Ventura to Send Up to 20 Layoff Notices

Ventura officials said Friday they intend to issue layoff notices to as many as 20 city employees next week and may have to lay off as many as 50 additional workers later this year.

City officials also are putting together a buyout proposal that would encourage some employees to retire early.

It would be the first time since 1979, when Proposition 13 took effect, that the city has had to consider laying off workers, Finance Director Terry Adelman said. Last year, 16 positions were eliminated, but employees were transferred to vacant posts or demoted, he said.

Employees in the first round of layoffs might lose their jobs as early as July 1 if revenue does not increase, Adelman said. The second round of layoff notices is expected in June if approved by the council, Adelman said. Those employees could also lose their jobs as early as July 1, Baker said.

Although Adelman estimated that as many as 50 employees would receive layoff notices in June, City Manager John Baker disagreed with the estimate, saying it’s too soon to say how many more employees would be terminated.

“We expect that all departments would be affected” in both sets of layoffs, Adelman said. About 655 people are on the city’s payroll.

Because of expected revenue shortfalls from the state, city staffers must cut $3 million from the city’s $50-million budget before June 30, Adelman said. The bulk of the savings probably will come from eliminating programs and staff members, he said.

According to Adelman, the first round of layoffs would save about $1 million, and the second round of layoffs and program cuts would save about $2 million.

Baker declined to name the positions that will be targeted next week, but said some employees from the Parks and Recreation Department will be affected.

Under a proposal that Baker unveiled about two months ago, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department would be eliminated as early as next fiscal year and its duties divided between two other departments.

Steve Hartmann, a spokesman for the Parks and Recreation Department, said some staff members had informally received notice about two weeks ago.

“People are job hunting, but morale is unchanged for the most part,” Hartmann said. “It’s not like they call in sick every day now.”

On Friday, a City Council subcommittee also told city managers to prepare proposals for severance pay packages and to draw up plans for a buyout that would give some employees an incentive to retire early and save the city money.

The proposed buyout plan, which is still being formulated, would credit employees with an extra two years of service so their pensions would be higher, Baker said.

The city would save money by not keeping the employees on the payroll for two years, Baker said. Only employees in certain job classifications would be eligible for the buyout, and employees would have to be at least 50 years old and have accrued at least five years in the Public Employee Retirement System.

Baker said he did not know how much money the buyout would save and was unsure how many city employees would be eligible. He said he wants to make the plan eligible for employees whose positions would be targeted for elimination anyway.

Councilmen Jack Tingstrom and Todd Collart and Mayor Gregory L. Carson, who make up the city’s finance committee, said they hope to offer some retraining programs for laid-off employees. Such programs, however, tend to be expensive, and City Council members said they may decide to give one-time payments to employees instead.

In about a week, council members are expected to meet with city officials and begin making recommendations on where to make $2 million in cuts. The council earlier gave city officials the authority to make $1 million in cuts.

Council members are expected to begin making decisions in April and May about the kind of severance package the city will offer. The council is expected to approve the city’s 1993-94 budget in June.