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Jun 9, 2009 6:23 pm US/Central
Fort Worth Looks Over List Of Proposed Budget Cuts
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Fort Worth leaders say when it comes to balancing the budget no idea is too farfetched. Leaders looked at a list of very deep
proposed cuts today, but found that even with some radical solutions the budget would still fall short.
Even if the Fort Worth City Council enacted each one of the
proposed cuts the city would still be $13 Million in the hole.
The budget deficit leaves many employees worried that every job, in every department, is under the microscope. "It [budget cuts] is starting to touch everybody now," said Fort Worth city employee Vince Chasteen. "And we had layoffs last year and this year it looks like there's gonna be, probably, a reduction in pay for employees."
Some of the painful cost saving ideas proposed to city leaders included - furloughing employees without pay, cutting salaries, and scaling back civilian city services by as much as 10-percent.
A directory of city employee's book got considerably thinner after the last budget cut. The health department is gone, communications department was reorganized and paired down, the housing department was merged with development, and the public works department was folded into engineering.
Last year's budget cuts meant losing 116 jobs. This year city leaders are looking at slashing or asking for early retirement from 350 people.
"It's going to be a painful exercise," said Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief.
While the city is also looking at reeling in retirement benefits and health care costs, a tax increase is at the bottom of the list. "I'm not going to say that we're gonna… we're gonna have a tax increase. I think this council and this staff are both addressing this budget challenge," Moncrief said.
Over the next few weeks the Fort Worth City Council will narrow down the list of proposed budget cuts they will consider.
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