Bridgeport trims the sails
Cutbacks include 31 city jobs
City layoffs are coming to Bridgeport.
Mayor Bill Finch recently ordered 31 employees axed from the city’s payroll to save money. Included in the layoffs were 10 high-ranking police officers, five park police officers, and 15 other City Hall workers.
The layoffs were announced at the end of September and were scheduled to take effect last Friday, but the only people laid off so far were five members of the city's parks police force.
“Everyone is in negotiation,” said Finch’s spokeswoman Elaine Ficarra in a prepared statement. “We are hopeful a resolution will soon be reached.”
The 31 layoffs were intended to save $1.3 million in the coming fiscal year.
The reason for the hold on layoffs appears primarily attributable to union and civil service rules.
“The administration is also negotiating with the entire city’s other unions over the fate of City Hall workers targeted for layoff,” said Ficarra. “If departments can find sufficient savings to offset a layoff, those jobs may be saved.”
The layoffs were intended to help trim a looming $6 million deficit in the city’s $492 million budget for 2008-09.
While trying to save money, the city also dove into its new green initiative.
Titled B-Green 2020, he program is intended to promote environmental protection and ecologically friendly programs in the city and its businesses.
“This is a change in the values we use to make our decisions,” said Finch,
The new green program has the full support of more than 50 city and state officials and representatives of community organizations.
The Bridgeport Regional Business Council will manage the initiative by hiring a consultant to assist the committee, as well as planning surveys and energy audits.
Paul Timpanelli president of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, said the group is seeking grants to pay for the management costs and has acquired $30,000 from the Tremaine Foundation and another $30,000 from the Fairfield County Community Foundation.
“The DEP will be a partner forever in this effort because it is just what needs to be done,” said Gina McCarthy, commissioner of the State Department of Environmental Protection.
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