Layoffs, paycuts part of strategy to reduce deficit
Natalie Everett – Staff Writer
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Morgan Hill
Another session of hand-wringing will be had Wednesday night, as the city’s leaders meet for a second time on how to close the $2.1 million annual budget deficit.
In November, the council was confronted with City Manager Ed Tewes’s budget reduction strategy, which include laying off 13 workers.
If approved as is, this would be the first time since the early 1990s that the city has had to lay off employess.
Since the initial presentation on the strategy, which will cut costs to match the revenue decrease caused by sales and property tax revenue declines and stalled development-related fees, the city has held a succession of meetings among citizens, staff and the council to come up with the least painful way to move forward.
The second Morgan Hill City Council workshop on the budget was called for at the end of the Dec. 17 public hearing, during which the council heard citizens clamoring against the city manager’s proposed budget reduction strategy.
So far, city council members and city staff have heard from citizens that they don’t like the proposed layoffs, they don’t like the proposed cost-savings measures – which include taking out grass from parks and turning off street lights – and they don’t like taxes, as evidenced by the profound failure of the utility tax measure that would have paid for more officers.
Vocal residents do like the sound of pay cuts, though: for management and union employees alike.
The council members, for their part, don’t like any of it, and aren’t sure which direction to go, hence the additional workshop, during which the five members will pour over details of the five-year strategy and deliberate further how they should balance the city budget.
The council is expected to vote on the budget cuts at its next meeting, Jan. 14.
Wednesday’s meeting begins at 6 p.m. The Jan. 14 meeting starts at 7 p.m. Both take place in Council Chambers at City Hall, 17555 Peak Ave.
