Plymouth County Possible Layoffs

With the fiscal year coming to an end, Plymouth County is having a hard time balancing out everything in terms of revenue as well as expenditures. It is possible that a number of cuts could take place which would ultimately lead to multiple layoffs. The ultimate plan for this current year is to work on a balance for the books, which would work not only for the present but for the future as well. Employees will be expected to contribute bit more to the cost of their health care services and in the meantime, dozens of layoffs are still expected to take place, meaning many jobs are on the line and it has a lot of people worried.

Officials for the county believe that it is possible to avoid these layoffs but in general, only time will tell. The county has been able to avoid layoffs before and hopefully it will be able to do so again during this year. However, over two dozen employees who will be receiving a notification about their job and the fact that it could be on the line, are not necessarily optimistic about the future. Many are in fear for their jobs, feeling as though they only have a short amount of time left before they are put out of work and no longer have a job. Things only continued to get worse when commissioners voted to up the cost of health care for employees and those who have retired. Health care costs used to be at 10 percent but now employees and retirees will be expected to pay 20 percent of the cost instead.

John Reardon argued about the increase in health care costs, stating that the employees in the country are already paid much less than others in different areas and that it is simply not fair to up the price for their health care since the general agreement was that even though they earned less, they would pay less for the cost of their health care so that thing would even out. In the meantime, commissioner chairman Sandra Wright says that she and other commissioners are being casted as the bad guys but states that she and others simply want things to be fair. Wright does not think it is unfair to ask for employees and retirees to pay 20 percent, especially since 80 percent of that amount will be covered. She believes it is generous to only expect 20 percent and points out that by simply making this adjustment, the county can save $300,000. The county is also hoping to have the opportunity to increase the amount of revenue earned per year, which would generally help to prevent layoffs and cuts from being made.