City of Sacramento manages to avoid bulk of layoffs amid $66m budget shortfall
The City of Sacramento has penciled out a financial plan that will save the jobs of dozens of city employees who were in danger of being laid off amid its $66 million budget shortfall — with $124,000 to spare.
Twenty-six parks maintenance employees were slated to lose their jobs as the city sought to balance its budget while facing a deficit for the third consecutive year.
The most recent proposed budget, expected to be approved by the City Council at next week’s meeting, decreases the city’s contribution to its economic uncertainty reserve, reduces North Natomas parks maintenance contracts and freezes the community ambassador program to restore the park positions and four program coordinator staff positions at the Hart Senior Center.
The 26 park positions cost the city $567,000 and the four senior support positions cost $273,000.
Payden Martin, a union representative for Local 39, said that the outcome is a win for both workers and the people of Sacramento.
“While it’s a victory for my members and a victory for the city, it’s also a victory for the community,” he said. “They’re not going to lose these people who are out there providing services that they all enjoy.”
Parks maintenance workers are responsible for both general maintenance of the parks and cleaning up hazardous materials, like feces or used needles.
Despite the good news for union workers, the layoff notices were not without consequence, Martin said. Two of the four full-time support staffers for Hart Senior Center vacated their positions and at least six of the 26 park workers who were pink slipped have pursued alternative employment or early retirement.
Martin, like many, wants to see the city’s structural deficit be addressed to avoid a similar situation in future years.
“I hope that there’s somebody somewhere who can find a plan to shore up these resources to ensure that what is not a huge amount of money can be supported,” Martin said.
Early budget focus pays off
Several council members and staffers have said that the city’s budget process was less strenuous this go around because they started much earlier in the year, allowing more time for the council to deliberate. In the past month, City Manager Maraskeshia Smith has amended the budget to restore grants to youth violence prevention programs and funding for recreational swim hours at the council’s direction.
At the last meeting in which they voted on budget direction, council members Lisa Kaplan and Mai Vang voted no, although for opposing reasons.
Kaplan objected to the elimination of several vacant positions in the fire department, instead advocating for a freeze, which Mayor Kevin McCarty shut down. Vang, on the other hand, objected to sacrificing the community ambassador program and advocated to cut some long-vacant police department positions which could free up millions of dollars in the budget.
The council will vote to finalize the budget Tuesday night, but changes and restructuring will be necessary in the months after budget finalization to address the city’s structural deficit.
