Naperville might have to cut 50 jobs

Naperville officials say they may need to cut nearly 50 jobs to fill the city's budget shortfall.

However, roughly two dozen of those positions are already vacant.

The city discussed its budget crunch during a workshop Tuesday. It is facing a $5.1 million hole this year that could increase to $11 million next fiscal year.

"It's a hard thing to say but it's a reality; in these budget times we have to look at reducing the number of city employees," City Manager Pro Tem Robert Marshall said.

The shortfall is largely due to lower than expected sales and real estate transfer taxes.

City department heads have been meeting to find ways to cut expenses. Some ideas include not replacing some vehicles and using money from departments that come in under budget, as well as tapping a balance in the self-insurance fund.

The city is already under a hiring freeze.

However, some costs are set to go up next fiscal year, the greatest of which are a union salary increase of $1.5 million, $1.2 million increase in salt costs and an additional $1.2 million for the city to defend itself against Councilman Richard Furstenau's federal lawsuit against the city.

After taking both the expense cuts and increases into consideration, the city would still be left with a $3.9 million hole, which could translate to about 44 to 48 job losses, according to Marshall.

The city already has been holding off on filling open positions and has about two dozen that are already vacant. Many of those vacant positions will likely stay that way to contribute to the total job cut figure.

In looking at these cuts, Marshall said the city will be evaluating all of its services and determining which are "core" services and which are not.

Councilman James Boyajian stressed the best employees must be retained so if an employee's position is cut, he or she may be able to replace another employee if suited for that position.

He and others also called on the city to include a $1.2 million contingency in its estimate of the shortfall. However, Doug Krieger, director of finance, said he believes the contingency figure could be taken care of by identifying additional savings within each department, such as under use of supplies or contract awards coming in below budget.

City councilmen also agreed to look for cost saving measures in other groups it provides funding, including the city's libraries, Naper Settlement and Naperville Community Television.

The city council also looked at its own budget to look for additional cost savings and agreed to stop funding its newspaper subscriptions and some of its memberships and allowances.

It decided not to pursue a previous suggestion from Councilman John Rosanova to cut its own salaries of $11,200 a year. Councilmen said such cuts by law wouldn't be able to go into effect immediately and would also deter people from running and prompt members to start requesting expense reimbursements.

The council will continue to discuss the budget crunch at an Oct. 21 workshop followed by a tax levy workshop Oct. 27.