New Orleans Is Battered by Layoffs

[apnu]

Just got this off Google News. Emphasis mine.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-orleans5oct05,0,6547132.story?coll=la-home-nation

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Nagin said cutting about 3,000 workers would save as much as $8 million of the city's $20-million monthly payroll. No police officers, firefighters or emergency medical technicians would lose their jobs, Nagin said, but "nonessential" support workers in those departments would be cut.
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<snip>
With few residents having returned to the city and only a handful of businesses functioning, New Orleans has virtually no tax money coming in to pay employees and maintain operations. The city has received $202 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but federal law allows that money to go only to overtime, not to pay regular salaries and benefits.
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<snip>
City workers said they were floored by the cuts, and disappointed that the federal government had not found a way to keep New Orleans running.

"If you're not able to keep the city operating, businesses and people might not come back at all," said Lt. David M. Benelli, president of the Police Assn. of New Orleans. "That's a tremendous Catch-22."

J. Stephen Perry, president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, said most business leaders understood that the mayor had been backed into a corner financially, and believed that he was doing the right thing amid strong political pressure to preserve jobs. Tuesday's announcement, Perry added, was also a signal to the Bush administration and Congress that the city was not looking for a wasteful handout.
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(more)

[Moderator]

1. Duplicate topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1826452