Friday, August 15, 2003

By Timothy McNulty, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Today will be another emotion-packed time at the City-County Building.

That's when scores of city workers will find out if they are being laid off.

Nine days after Mayor Tom Murphy announced he was cutting 731 jobs, hundreds of workers already know they are being laid off, among them police officers, crossing guards, emergency medical technicians and recreation workers.

Today, 79 workers from the Public Works Department and more than 50 employees scattered among nine other departments will be formally notified that their jobs are being terminated.

Most of the workers will get two weeks of severance pay, through Sept. 1, which will give them health benefits until the end of September. Due to collective bargaining agreements, some of the employees -- such as EMTs -- will not leave the payroll for a month or more.

It took more than a week to pinpoint which jobs would be cut due to a thicket of civil service and union work rules, Executive Secretary Tom Cox told City Council Wednesday.

Employees of the mayor's office as well as the Bureau of Building Inspection and the Finance, Planning, Engineering & Construction, Parks, Public Works, Personnel, General Services and Information Services departments will be affected by the layoffs today, according to data Murphy released Aug. 6.

Employees in some departments are not facing layoffs at all. They are in the Emergency Operations Center, the controller's office, City Council, the City Clerk's office and the Law Department.

Murphy said the 731 layoffs would save the city $6.5 million. Between the savings and $28 million the city has in the bank, it will be able to pay off its bills the rest of the year.

He said the layoffs were necessary after the Legislature failed to act on statewide budget issues, including his plan to raise new revenues to balance the city budget.

Murphy's plan calls for a new payroll tax on for-profit firms, a $42 increase in the yearly tax on people working in the city, cuts in existing business taxes and a state-appointed city budget oversight board.

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