37 employees take Aurora up on separation offer

The City of Aurora will decide by next week which of 37 employees who opted for voluntary separation packages will be leaving their jobs.

The deadline to apply for the packages was 5 p.m. Friday for most of the city's roughly 1,100 workers and 37 people responded.

The separation packages will include six additional weeks of severance pay, six months of additional medical and dental insurance and a waiver of any tuition assistance repayments owed to the city.

The offer is one of many steps the city is taking to balance its 2009 and 2010 budgets. Earlier in the week, Aurora's 200 nonunion employees were told they would be required to take five mandatory furlough days this year and 10 next year.

The city also will freeze wages for executive and nonexempt workers and is currently negotiating cutbacks with its unions.

Aurora is expecting a $4 million budget shortfall this year with declining revenues in almost all areas.

Carrie Anne Ergo, assistant chief of staff, said she expects the city to accept the applications from the majority of the 37 employees.

"We're going to be evaluating the position to see if it's critical and that it would not severely negatively impact critical operations," she said.

The city wasn't looking for a specific number of employees to apply and will not know the exact impact on the budget until the decision is made next week.

"We are also going to be looking at consolidating operation and the possibility of elimination of services that are not absolutely essential," Ergo said. "We're trying to be proactive. We're doing our best to balance the budget based on revenue projections."