Frank Juliano, Staff Writer
Published 10:50 p.m., Thursday, March 10, 2011
MILFORD -- Fewer than half of the 24 jobs cut from the city's 2011-12 budget by the Board of Finance on Wednesday night may be covered by vacant positions and planned retirements, officials said Thursday.
Layoffs could be looming for staffers in the health department, public works, and fire departments, unless unions agree to a "golden handshake'' benefits package to encourage early retirements.
"We've just started meeting with the unions about enticements to reduce the number of employees,'' Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr. said. "We can't say at this point who might lose their job, but any reduction in staff will have an affect on the services that the city can offer.''
The mayor said when announcing the staff reductions last week that he hoped all of them might be covered by retirements or by vacant positions that would be left unfilled, although he left open the possibility of layoffs and early retirement offers. On Thursday he said only 13 of the 24 affected jobs are either currently vacant or held by someone planning to retire by the end of June. The other 11, including a nurse and a sanitarian in the health department, a firefighter and a civilian dispatcher could lose their jobs.
The finance board Wednesday night approved a $182.8 million spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1, shaving $1.2 million from the mayor's proposed budget and giving the Board of Education less than half of the $3.2 million increase that it sought. The board set a mill rate that would result in taxes of $29.35 for each $1,000 of assessed value, which will raise taxes on the typical home here by $159, officials said.
The cuts to the school board request were discussed at length and eventually approved unanimously. But some on the five-member board wanted to preserve more of the 3.8 percent increase education leaders had sought. The spending plan handed to the finance board on March 1 totalled $186 million, including $86 million for school spending.
Acting Superintendent Mike Cummings said Thursday that he was studying the cut made by the finance board.
"All I know right now is that we have to look at many things,'' he said glumly. "We have a lot more work to do before I can be more exact than that.''
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