Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Fewer layoffs than expected for Phila. city workers

As promised last month, the Nutter administration began delivering layoff notices yesterday - but fewer municipal workers may find themselves out of work than previously stated.

As promised last month, the Nutter administration began delivering layoff notices yesterday - but fewer municipal workers may find themselves out of work than previously stated.

Mayor Nutter had said that 220 full-time positions would be lost to help close a $108 million shortfall for this fiscal year.

As of yesterday, however, that figure had shrunk to 141, and could shrink much further.

Among the reasons for the shorter layoff list: city departments have found other ways to save money or transferred positions to other departments, and some employees voluntarily resigned.

Nutter spokesman Doug Oliver also said that new positions became available as a result of the city's ongoing hiring freeze.

"This means that there has been some reshuffling, which has meant less people on the layoff list," Oliver said.

The layoffs take effect Jan. 16.

Of the 141 workers who received layoff notices, 123 were civil service employees, while 18 were civil-service exempt.

The number of actual layoffs, however, could be even fewer.

Of the 141 workers on the list, at least 77 will be offered jobs in other city departments, Oliver said.

For instance, 22 open positions were identified in the 311 non-emergency call center that is slated to open this month. Those jobs were offered to enforcement officers with the city's Licenses and Inspections Department, and computer operators and library assistants at the Free Library, among others.

Also, 13 spots were available in the prison system, all as correctional officers. Those positions were offered to housing and fire inspectors and enforcement officers at L&I, and municipal guards at the library.

The pay in most cases is similar, and higher in some.

In all, the city in its revised budget plan for the current fiscal year still plans to eliminate 800 total positions - including 600 that are vacant. The move will eventually save the city $33.6 million a year, said Finance Director Rob Dubow.

Most of the vacant positions being eliminated are in the Police (200) and Fire (148) Departments.

The administration is also moving forward with plans to cut 1,500 seasonal jobs, such as lifeguards, as well as 550 contractual positions and 20 part-timers.