STEUBENVILLE, Ohio --
City leaders in Steubenville said they have closed the gap on the $1.8 million deficit they were facing in 2010.
It's coming at a cost, though. Six police officers were laid off and five more city workers are set to be let go.
The city struck a deal with both the firefighters and AFSCME unions. They've agreed to make concessions to keep the city's finances afloat.
"We were happy to reach this agreement and although it is still a little painful for both firefighters and AFSCME union, restructuring the city staff is necessary in these economic challenged times," said Mayor Dom Mucci.
The firefighters agreed to forfeit their 3.5% raise, suspend a four-hour call back by two hours, eliminate their uniform allowance, and reduce the minimum number of firefighters per shift from 11 to 10. Originally faced with cutting up to nine firefighters, they'll lay off three.
"The reason we've been able to do that is because of the cooperation we got from those people that chose to step to the plate and be leaders," said City Manager Bruce Williams.
Williams said when they first looked at the numbers, they felt 17 AFSCME jobs needed to be reduced.
After 10 employees accepted a $10,000 buyout offer to either retire or just leave, they were able to save jobs. AFSCME concessions reduced layoffs from 17 to two.
"Although we've closed that gap of $1.8 million, we're not quite there yet and we're still looking at ways of reducing it even more," said Mucci.
Mucci said next, they'll be looking to municipal court and the health department for help, while continuing to be frugal with spending while riding out the economic storm.
If the economic situation worsens, the unions have agreed to allow them to go back to the bargaining table, according to Mucci. If things improve, they have recall rights and some of the laid off workers would be called back.
The five workers set to be laid off will be notified September 1 and their last day of work will be September 14.
Steubenville Unions Make ConcessionsCopyright 2009 by . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
