Your Comments | Mayor Iorio’s Memo
By ELLEN GEDALIUS
The Tampa Tribune
TAMPA - Mayor Pam Iorio will issue pink slips at City Hall this week.
She said Monday that affected employees will be notified Thursday.
Each laid-off employee will be given 90 days from the time they are told that their position has been eliminated to their departure from the city.
Iorio would not answer questions Monday about severance package details or about how many of the city’s roughly 4,700 employees would be laid off.
Martha Stevens, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, said employees have been calling the union office, asking for information on the layoffs. Despite a meeting Monday with Iorio, Stevens said she won’t have more details until the end of the week.
She did say that the contract only requires about three weeks’ notice of layoffs, rather than the 90 days the city is giving.
The cuts come several weeks after the state Legislature reformed the property tax system. The first phase of changes could save taxpayers several hundred dollars, but the city’s general fund will need to be cut by about $20 million.
The city instituted a hiring freeze in April, but that won’t be enough to offset the $20 million
“While I wish that all personnel cuts could only be in vacant positions or by attrition over time, this will not be possible,” Iorio wrote in a memo to City Council. “My staff has been identifying personnel cutbacks within their departments and the work is still on-going.”
The mayor will meet with the council on Wednesday for a broader discussion on the impacts of the property tax legislation on the city’s budget.
As for the layoffs, Iorio said every department will be affected, including the police and fire departments. She continues to say, however, that cuts in the police and fire departments will be minimal.
She said that her staff members will try to help laid off employees find other jobs in the community.
Hillsborough County’s government remains under a hiring freeze, and top officials say layoffs are possible.
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker announced 50 layoffs at city hall last week.
Iorio said she later will announced service reductions and other cuts to the city’s budget. She presents her recommended budget to the council Aug. 9.
Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or egedalius@tampatrib.com.
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