Crunch Time for the Reno City Budget

It's crunch time for the Reno city budget. At a special meeting on June 1, things were laid on the line concerning what needs to be done in order to have a balanced budget starting on July 1 with the new fiscal year. It boils down to the city's bargaining units (employee unions) foregoing cost-of-living raises or the layoffs start happening. Councilman Dave Aiazzi said, "We're out of money." Councilman Dan Gustin added, "All we're asking is for employees to not get a pay increase, not to take a pay cut." Resolutions were passed giving City Manager Donna Dreska authority to implement layoffs as needed to balance the budget should negotiations with employees fail to elicit the needed agreements.

At this point, Reno's administrative and professional groups have agreed to a freeze on previously planned pay increases, as have unrepresented employees and elected officials. Some of the police and firefighter unions still have not given their answers to the City Council. Should they fail to agree, layoffs will actually affect public safety more than other departments in the city. Police and fire not only represent the largest number of city employees and most general fund expense, they have several employees currently under probationary status. According to civil service rules that govern most city workers, probationary employees must be laid off before any regular full-time employees are let go.The City Council wants an answer by its next meeting on June 10. If the layoffs are going to happen, they want time to process the paperwork and give affected employees as much notice as possible before the door shuts on July 1.

So the question is, will the holdouts in public safety agree to a pay freeze or throw some of their fellow employees under the bus? I'm hoping they consider not only other city workers, but the rest of us citizens out here as well. We're also struggling and would like to keep some of the city services besides police and fire that we need and are paying for. Step up and display some of that unselfish public service you tell us you render every day.

Sources: Personal attendance at City Council meeting, press release from City of Reno.

Sign up to receive the Reno / Tahoe Newsletter and stay on top of what's happening.

Follow me on Twitter.