City Budget Cuts Could Lead to Job Loss

Many employees in Holland city are concerned about the budget cuts that will be made. It is believed that some employees within the city will lose their job once these budget cuts are set and made, which is leaving people on edge, worried that they will be out of work before they know it. The new budget that is supposed to begin on the 1^st of July shows that 12 positions are expected to be eliminated. This means that some people, mostly those working in the human resources and cultural services department, may be forced to retire early or will simply lose their job due to layoffs.

Since 2004, the city has gotten rid of nearly 40 positions. Many are worried that the employees that are still remaining are stuck doing more than their job entails because they have to take over some of the workload from the other positions that were eliminated. In fact, a councilman, Dave Hoekstra, says that there is a much heavier strain on the employees that are left as the workload increases for them when the positions are eliminated.

If the budget cut currently goes through, the workforce in the city would drop down to approximately 182 city employees, which is the lowest it has been for quite a while. Another councilman, Mike Trethewey, said that there is absolutely no way to make any more cuts that would not affect the programs. He believes that more cuts would negatively affect programs, putting many employees out of work and creating an increase in overflow for the remaining employees.

The city manager, Ryan Cotton, set a proposal in which he wants to reduce the amount of general spending to about $19.7 million. This would be the lowest amount of spending since the year 2004, eight years ago. He also plans to raise the city tax as a way of getting the city out of debt. Much of the debt has added up over the years and even dates back to the 90’s.

And, after hearing of the proposal, many employees realize that they could end up losing their jobs within the next few months. One of the employees who could end up losing his job, Dan Schrotenboer, asked that the city do not layoff the employees who actually live in the city. He says that he lives in the city, pays bills in the city, and has a mortgage in this city. He needs the job that he has to continue paying for these things and hopes that his job will be saved. He is hoping that layoffs will start with employees who are currently living out of the city.