WESTMINSTER : City Sends Layoff Notices to 30 Workers

Notices of possible layoffs were sent to nearly 30 city employees Wednesday, officials said, as part of a strategy to cope with the loss of about $130,000 a month that the city had planned to save by contracting for fire services.

The Orange County Fire Authority withdrew its bid to provide fire and emergency services last weekend, following a judge’s order that temporarily blocked the city from entering into a contract. The move has left Westminster with a severe budget crunch, officials said.

The layoffs most likely would be a temporary last-ditch effort to save money if the city is forced to retain its own Fire Department for more than four months, City Manager Bill Smith said.

In the meantime, the city plans to begin negotiating with other fire agencies to provide the service.

The city plans to pull about $100,000 from its general fund and about $130,000 from its vehicle replacement budget, which would cover nearly two months of losses. Beyond that time, the city could take money from the employee benefit reserve, a fund for staff members who wish to exchange unused sick time and vacation pay for cash.

If the city enters a fourth month with no fire contract, the layoffs would be necessary, Smith said.

The layoffs would affect services, Smith said, including park maintenance, graffiti removal and gang prevention services.

In its budget, city officials had planned to save about $1.8 million a year by contracting with the Fire Authority. But two days before the city was to disband its Fire Department, a federal judge blocked the new contract until a civil rights case brought by four former firefighters could be heard.

The firefighters’ lawsuit accuses the city of illegally dismissing them last year, a charge city officials dispute. Fire Authority officials said they pulled the contract to distance themselves from the pending litigation.