Publication Date: Friday, May 06, 2005
The face of layoffs
The face of layoffs
(May 06, 2005) Finance Committee hears from workers proposed to lose jobs
by Bill D'Agostino
On Tuesday night, the Palo Alto Finance Committee came face to face with city employees who could be laid off.
Four senior technologists came to the year's first budget hearing to plead for their jobs. Two said they were only one year away from being "vested" in the city's retiree-benefit program, including a cancer survivor who said he would have a hard time finding health insurance if he lost his job.
All four professionals said the city's operations would suffer without their expertise.
Originally from India, Sree Kolavennu has worked for Palo Alto for four years, supporting the city's financial systems. "My value is really crucial to the city," she told the committee.
There are more than 30 employees in the city's information technology division. Laying off the four technologists will save the city $540,000, including the cost of their salaries and benefits, according to city figures. Technology Manager Ron Fong is the highest-paid worker targeted; cutting his salary and benefits would save nearly $150,000.
City leaders are trying to balance a projected $5.2 million deficit, primarily due to tax revenues not increasing to meet exploding employee-benefit costs. The city has given notices to 18 employees that they are potential targets. It would be the first layoffs in the city since the early 1990s.
"Certainly all of these are tough decisions and we have carefully analyzed them," said Carl Yeats, the director of the city's Administrative Services Department, which oversees the budget and the information technology divisions "None of those are easy decisions. None of those are easy jobs to replace. They've all been very good employees. They've all done an excellent job."
In recent years, the city balanced its budget without layoffs, despite the ongoing recession, by cutting approximately 40 positions through attrition.
Unionized workers facing layoffs have the option of "bumping" lower-ranking employees, if they are qualified for their jobs. But the senior technologists, who are not unionized, do not have that right. Two years ago, such professionals and managers within the city tried to organize, but failed to gather enough signatures.
After hearing the employees' pleas, the four-member Finance Committee tentatively and unanimously recommended approving the information technology division's budget, including the five layoffs.
Committee Chair Vic Ojakian, an employee with Hewlett Packard, briefly spoke directly to the workers. "Our goal isn't to put you in a bad situation," he said, adding that he empathized with them.
"I've had to watch, over the last five years, a lot of people lose their job. In fact, it hasn't been much fun," the councilman said. "Some of those people I've worked with for more than 10 years; I thought they were good employees. I don't have any good answers for the folks that are out there."
The City Council will have their final say on the city's budget in June. If employees are laid off, they will officially lose their jobs on July 1 and their health care will expire on Sept. 1, City Manager Frank Benest said. They city offers such workers "transitional benefits," including severance pay and training in resume writing, he added.
Finance Committee budget hearings continue on Tuesday and Thursday nights throughout the month.
Staff Writer Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com.
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