Seeking ways to fill a $33 million shortfall in the proposed $122 million municipal budget, Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith said layoff notices are going to city employees, including police and fire officials.
“We hope we don’t have to lay anyone off,” the clearly unhappy Smith said during an interview last Thursday. “But we said all along this might be possible.”
Smith would not say how many jobs are at risk, hoping that he can still find another way to cut costs. But under contract provisions with the local unions, the city must give 45 days notice.
Smith said he is looking to trim about $2 million from the fire department budget and about $1 million from the police budget.
“This is not easy for me,” he said. “I know all of these people and most of their families.”
Smith served on the Bayonne Police Department, both as a police officer and as the department’s director before becoming mayor last November.
The city is also expected to lay off employees in several other departments, including the Recreation Department.
Police and fire departments are being considered for lay offs because the city has already laid off a significant number of non-uniform employees in a previous round of layoffs conducted last year.
Smith said the number of layoffs could be reduced and possibly not happen at all if agreements for salary reductions, furloughs and other give backs can be worked out with the various unions.
“We’re hoping to avoid layoffs if we can,” Smith said.
About 36 public safety employees are eligible to leave on their own through retirements. The notice claims that layoffs could start at early as May 1. Under state law, the city must give 45 days notice of potential layoffs and the reason. In this case, the budget deficit is adequate reason for the city to take the action.
Smith said the city would be cutting several programs, including the Faith-
Based Initiatives program, which was established in Bayonne under then Mayor Joseph Doria to provide training, information and referrals in an effort to find jobs for members in the community.
“As much as I think the program is a good idea, the city can’t afford it,” he said.
While the city’s 27th Street recreation center will be kept open, most of its programs will be cut or reduced in order to save funds, Smith said.
The city is expected to save $250,000 as a result of closing programs at the 27th Street Senior Citizen Center and another $250,000 by closing satellite branches.
This notice comes with significant warning. Just after taking office last November, Smith said he would push to cut costs.
“Simply put, we spend about 24 percent more than we take in revenue,” he said at the time. “From year to year, we are carrying a structural deficit that has grown to over $30 million.”
If taxes were raised to eliminate this, it would mean a 50 percent increase on the municipal tax rate.
In this regard, he is proposing a $10.5 million package that includes about $5.7 million in cuts, $4.8 million in additional revenue, and imposing fiscal discipline to maintain progress.
Cutting spending included identifying immediate areas for cost savings, consolidating, reorganizing city government for increased savings and efficiencies, and continued budget reviews for additional savings.
The largest cuts would include $2 million from the Fire Department and $1 million from the Police Department.
Smith warned in December that this could require a combination of laying off uniformed employees and early retirements as part of a “reduction in force” to achieve $3 million in savings, but doesn’t say how many cops and firefighters would leave the city payroll.
Civilian employees would be required to take a one-week furlough, which would save the city about $400,000.
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