Council Lays Off 23 City Workers; Officials Cite Proposition 218

The City Council on Wednesday laid off more than 20 city workers, among the first public employees in Orange County to lose their jobs as a result of the passage of Proposition 218.

Seeking to make up a $2.8-million shortfall in the city’s $21-million budget for fiscal 1997-98, the council also passed a sweeping package of cutbacks and fee increases. The council will ask voters to approve a 2.5% utility tax increase in June, which could raise about $1.2 million.

Officials said the shortfall is the consequence of Proposition 218, which sharply limits cities in raising money for services such as street lighting, maintenance of parks and beaches.

The 23 layoffs affected the city’s entire public works maintenance division, which is responsible for tasks such as road re-striping and parking meter collection.

A private firm will be found to take over the division’s responsibilities, and city officials said they hope to negotiate the rehiring of at least half of the laid-off employees by the new contractor.

The layoffs will save San Clemente about $430,000.

“Since 1991, we’ve had to reduce our work force by 54%,” City Manager Michael W. Parness said. The Public Works maintenance division was eliminated because “we didn’t have a lot of operations left that we could privatize.”

One of the casualties was Mike Sorg, a 16-year employee who headed the public works maintenance division. Ironically, Sorg had filled a number of roles in the city, from assistant city manager to police chief, as San Clemente reduced its work force during other financial crises.