Beginning Jan. 15, the majority of Santa Maria city employees will be taking off the third Friday of every month—as well as Veterans Day—for a total of 13 mandatory furlough days.
City employees voluntarily agreed in November 2009 to the 4- to 5-percent reductions in wages and benefits for the 2010 calendar year.
The mandatory time off program is expected to save the city approximately $600,000 through June 30, 2010—the end of the current fiscal year—and about $1.2 million throughout the 2010 calendar year.
Santa Maria is reportedly the only city in the tri-counties area to have all of its employees agree to pay cuts in 2010.
“A lot of credit is due to the city’s workforce for recognizing the need and taking positive action to be part of the solution,” Assistant City Manager Rick Haydon said in a release to the media.
Also in 2010, a handful of city offices, including City Hall and the Santa Maria Public Library, will be closed the third Friday of every month. The Santa Maria Regional Landfill will be closed on selected Sundays.
According to information from the city, employees taking a 5 percent reduction include the majority of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 620 members, all management personnel, and some fire department personnel and non-sworn police department staff. The 5 percent pay cut will also affect members of the city council, planning commission, and recreation and parks commission.
Employees taking 4-percent reductions include firefighters working shift schedules, sworn police personnel, and dispatchers. The sworn personnel and dispatchers agreed to concessions in holiday pay, and the remaining employees will participate in the 13-day furlough program, city
representatives said.
Haydon said the city and public safety officers agreed to this arrangement because they don’t want the safety of Santa Maria residents to be jeopardized by the pay cuts
Also, if certain public safety officers did participate in furlough days, other employees would have to work overtime to replace them, nullifying any savings rendered by the program.
The last time city employees were asked to take unpaid time off was in 1994 and 1995. City officials said the duration of this pay-cut period is uncertain.
“So much depends on the economy turning around, and we believe that the continued downturn in the economy will not rebound anytime soon,” Haydon said in the release. “The city really relies on sales tax and property tax revenues to finance most of its operational expenses, and both sources have declined.”
For more information, contact the city manager’s office at 925-0951, Ext. 200.
This article appears in Jan 7-14, 2010.
