Not all G.I. furloughs help budget

[Omaha Steve]

Grand Island has members of my local. I'll keep this story up to date as things happen.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20100426/NEWS01/704269903#not-all-g-i-furloughs-help-budget

By Tracy Overstreet
WORLD-HERALD NEWS SERVICE

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. -- Nearly 200 of Grand Island’s 500 city employees are being asked to take two days of furlough that will provide no savings on the city’s $2 million revenue shortfall.

The 189 enterprise fund employees would take $95,000 worth of unpaid time off in a show of unity with other city workers, not to help close the budget gap.

“We believe that if there’s going to be participation, the entire work force should participate,” Grand Island City Administrator Jeff Pederson said.

Pederson and Mayor Margaret Hornady suggested earlier this month that all city employees take 16 hours of furlough by Sept. 30. A meeting with the city’s seven unions was held April 15, and their response is expected at a meeting Tuesday morning.
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But the $140,000 of expected savings from worker furloughs that Pederson announced at a recent press conference is based only on the 300 employees paid out of the fund supported by property and sales taxes.

The savings from the nearly 200 enterprise fund employees would go directly back into the enterprise fund, not the cash-strapped general fund, which has an estimated $2 million revenue shortfall this year and a projected $3 million shortfall next year.

FULL story at link.