Mary Suhm Expains to City Council How She'll Try to Save 500 City of Dallas Jobs

By Robert Wilonsky Mon., Aug. 10 2009 at 10:55 AM

Categories: News

As the council begins commenting on the proposed FY2009-2010 budget, one issue comes up time and again: the layoff of 840 city employees, which will begin on Friday. Moments ago, the city manager further explained how the process will work: When the reduction-in-force notices are sent out at the end of the week, employees will also receive a list of jobs the city has available -- some 500, she said, "maybe more."

The laid-off will be able to go online, Suhm said, and begin the "expedited process" of applying for those those jobs through the Civil Service department, which is maintaining a list of unfilled positions. "They will fill out an application and automatically be eligible for all the jobs they're qualified for," she said. "No one else will be able to apply" for those jobs, which will be funded through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, state and enterprise fund monies.

But there will still be 300 to 400 full-timers "on the streets" when all's said and done, Suhm said, and those employees will be offered resume-writing and interview-skills classes through their respective supervisors. Suhm is also not filling some 560 vacant positions, per the proposed budget.

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The amount of money that will be saved with the 800 planned terminations can be totally offset with cuts in salaries as follows. Approximate Percent Reduction in Staff Salaries With No Layoffs: Spread out over 13,000 Total Staff = 4% Salary drop Spread out over 7,800 Staff (Total, Less Police and Fire) = 10% Salary drop Out in the private sector today, unemployment is near 10%. Corporations are either doing massive terminations, reducing work week hours/salaries, or a combination of the two. Wages and salaries have fallen for each of the last 10 months as some businesses imposed salary cuts. Office Depot, and FedEx, for example, reduced the work week for many staff resulting in a 10 to 20% drop in salary. Personally, I'm seeing about a 30% reduction in income. LET THE CITY STAFF DECIDE Let the City Staff decide if they would rather take a pay cut, than have over 800 of their fellow associates terminated. The City of Dallas has a great team, one that has taken years to develop. Millions have been spent in training. Many good internal relationships, and city staff-to-business/community relationships have been developed resulting in an efficient operating organization. How many staff not terminated will jump ship fearing that more terminations are coming? This will worsen an already deteriorated city organization caused by the proposed imminent terminations. Another way to look at why we should stop the imminent terminations is a simple story. For a small community, this year's crop would result in some residents either having to move away, staying and starving, or everyone eatsless, gets a little less this year, and the experience brings the community closer together. A closer knit city staff resulting from this experience will radiate great positive energy out into the community. The city staffs' giving, yes sacrificing, to maintain good city services, and good community morale will be appreciated by most, if not all city residents. I believe that I'm with the growing majority who would rather work for less money than be unemployed. I believe that I'm with the growing majority who understand the need to come together at this time, and to look out for our fellow man and woman, as we would want them to look out for us. With a choice for no-job-terminations, I call for quarterly City Hall Party's, which will be paid for by us, by we the taxpayers of Dallas. And there will be great live music at all events, hopefully by some �stars� willing to donate their time and talent for the sake of the Dallas community. How about it Mr. Henley? At these events we'll all meet each other, and we the citizens of Dallas can thank in person all city staff for this great gesture, for this great act, which will bring both city hall and all of Dallas closer together. The politics will be virtually taken out of the decision to terminate jobs by taking the decision out of the council's hands, and putting the decision into the hands of those who will be most affected. I pray that our mayor and city council see the wisdom in this proposal. I pray that many Dallas residents respond to the recent Dallas Morning news editorial calling for all Dallasites to open their hearts and wallets, and contribute to our Quality of Life revenue needs. God Bless our Mayor and City Council in our most challenging times. With God, all things are possible, and together all will be overcome. _____________________________________________ NOTE: Because of lower property values, income to Dallas from property taxes will be approximately $20 million lower than last year. Many taxpayers would accept paying the same total to Dallas as last year if it would help City Services. This would mean a slight, almost negligible increase in the property tax to make up for the loss in property tax income. If this additional $20 million of "found" income is applied to the pending staff terminations, one of two things would occur: 1. Only 400 instead of 800 layoffs. 2. Lower % salary drops as follows: Total Staff - 2% Salary drop (13,000 people) Non-Police/Fire Staff - 5% Salary drop (7,800 people) ___________________________________________ I think the people in Bhutan know a better way to live! http://www.gz2010.cn/09/0618/17/5C3VB9ST0078019B.html
For those that are rehired for the 500 or so jobs because of the stimulus money......don't put your faith in your job being around this time next year; city of Dallas will have the same budget problems, or worse..........
@Buzzoff Your brain is your friend. If American cities add thousands of workers apiece to the unemployment roles it's not going to benefit the economy. Most economists, conservative and liberal, are pointing to the foundation the stimulus has provided local governments as one of its major bright spots. No one will argue the bill was perfect. But considering that the average American being counted at unemployed at the moment has been out of the job 25 months. That's unemployment benefits, and pray that none of them gets sick while out of work. All these things have a cost, in addition to the loss of consumer dollars from the economy and the psychological effect of pushing up unemployment numbers even further as thousands of city employees across the nation are laid off. But by all means don't let facts stand in the way of your partisanship.
Absolutely, you're correct, and I've changed the headline to more accurately reflect that. Thanks, and apologies.
Um, all of those jobs are not at City Hall. They're from every department (except Fire, Police & Code enforcement), including about 30 from the library. It's not just management types (the stereotypical bureaucrat); we lower-level worker bees are waiting to see which of our heads will roll come the 15th.
Funny how the tax monies from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that is supposed to stimulate the economy is being used to stimulate the bureaucracies. Didn't they say something about shovel ready projects and green jobs -- only we know what they are shoveling and the green is like what Don Hill is on trial for right now.