Sara Ortega
sortega@weatherforddemocrat.com
With sales tax revenues down and future predictions looking bleak, the city has already cut $2 million through employee interdepartmental transfers and retirement, City Manager Jerry Blaisdell said.
“We’re trying to cure as much of that through retirement as we can,” he explained.
Blaisdell said the city began meeting with employees that are eligible for retirement.
“There are incentives that the council has allowed me to offer, that are made up because we won’t be paying Social Security or FICA, that might encourage people to retire,” he said. “If they were to wait until next year, those incentives would be gone.”
He said the city has narrowed down specific criteria and have talked with approximately 15 employees.
“The retirement is strictly voluntary,” Blaisdell added.
From those 15, he said two have chosen to retire including Parks and Recreation Director Kathy Mosby.
Mosby was unavailable for comment due to holiday vacations.
Another place the city made cuts is by transferring employees from departments funded by sales tax revenues to those that are not, such as utilities.
“Where there have been openings we’ve allowed people to apply, and moved or will move about eight people, which is reducing the impact on the general fund side,” Blaisdell explained.
Blaisdell said they plan to move people and continue meeting with others within the next few months.
“There are others that are strongly considering retirement,” he said. “We’re trying to make up what we can through retirement issues and at the end of that see where we are.”
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