New York Lays Off 250, More to Come

More bad news for workers in New York. Just weeks after the state government came to an agreement that saved the jobs of thousands of workers, those people who are employed by the city of New York have reason to fear that the chopping block may be beckoning their name.

The city is looking to cut down on its expenses in any way that it can, and right now job cuts are the order of the day. The city, which would be operating seriously in the red if it leaves things the way that they are right now, is going to need to make some drastic cuts.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced a plan to cut back on workers, with 250 city government jobs to be gone June of next year and a more serious cut of 1,500 more city employees expected to lose their jobs by the end of the next fiscal year. These cuts are designed to help the city save an estimated $500 million dollars.

On the bright side we already have an idea of where the initial layoffs are going to fall and rather that across the board cuts specific departments have been targeted. One department, The Department of Cultural of Affairs, will take the biggest hit in this first round of cuts. They are going to lose 109 members of their staff before the year draws to a close. The city’s Fire Department will be losing 44 of its non-uniform employees in these cuts as well. Unlike many other cities in the recent past, for now at least, the city of New York will not be cutting anyone personnel from law enforcement.

In the long term the city expects to make some serious cuts to the city’s Sanitation Department by the end of 2013. The city is expected to use an attrition plan in order to get rid of a sizable number of positions. Roughly 254 union positions and 50 more non-union jobs are expected to be cut by this method.

Why are these cuts being made? Well, in order to reduce the city’s deficit. If no changes had been made the City of New York would have been in about 4.6 billion of debt. With the new changes to the cities budget, and the job cutbacks, the city’s debt will be reduced to about $2 billion. While this is a sizable sum the city will still have a long way to go.

Of course, not all of those savings are coming from job losses. Several of the city’s departments have to make more general cuts to their budgets. The city’s schools are expected to reduce their overall spending by $301 million by 2013. The police department is being told to reduce their costs by $74.6 million by the same deadline. There is no word yet as to whether or not these specific agency cuts will lead to more job losses in the near future.

The city is also hoping to generate some new revenue with the sales of new taxi medallions.