Colorado Springs will cut 90 jobs in 2009

The gloomy economy darkened Colorado Springs' City Hall today, when officials began notifying dozens of city employees they'll lose their jobs next year.

The 2009 budget assumes the elimination of 90 jobs. Of those, 28 were announced in early September. Another 62 will be sliced in January, 50 of which are filled.

It's the biggest city layoff in recent memory, representing about 5 percent of the city work force. The last city layoff came in 2004, when a dozen workers were let go due to a budget crunch.

Today, hardly a department was spared, other than sworn personnel in police and fire departments.

Layoffs occurred in the city attorney, clerk, budget and finance, information techology, land-use review, engineering, transit, traffic engineering, parks, fleet, public communications and city management offices. There also were layoffs in the municipal court and among civilian police and fire positions.

The cuts will save $4.8 million to $6 million annually.

Some employees identified for layoff will be notified Tuesday.

Layoffs will take place in January if the budget is adopted as proposed by City Manager Penelope Culbreth-Graft.

Culbreth-Graft has been working to bridge a $23 million revenue gap caused by falling revenues and some expenses that cannot be curtailed, such as a payment to police officers for overtime resulting from a federal lawsuit.

The city manager announced a month ago she would slice 28 jobs, most of which weren't filled. Today, the knife cut deeper.

"The city will assist employees whose positions are being eliminated by offering them interviews for any city job for which they are qualified and offering training opportunities for resume writing and for interviewing skills," the city said in a press release.

"These actions and the advance notice of the layoffs will provide opportunities and a planning window for the majority of employees impacted."

The news comes as the region's unemployment rate hit a five-year high in August of 6.2 percent.

The release said a few positions will require immediate layoff due to the nature of the position. City spokeswoman Sue Skiffington-Blumberg said those include workers in finance, information technology or legal departments who have "systems control, legal or financial responsibilities."

Those people will leave their city positions but continue to be paid until early January, she said.

The City Council is expected to get the proposed 2009 budget Oct. 9 and begin budget markup sessions Oct. 15.
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Contact the writer: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazette.com