City workers in Dayton are being asked to consider forsaking 2009 pay raises of about three per cent - because the city is headed for a $13 million budget shortfall.
The announcement this week from the City Manager of Ohio's 6th largest city... wasn't un-expected. Tom Biedenharn is Dayton's spokesperson.
TOM BIEDENHARN: "What we're trying to do is look at ways that we can possibly avoid layoffs or at least minimize the number of layoffs that we would have to conduct. One of those options is looking at a possible wage freeze, across the board from the top of the organization to the bottom of the organization."
Most city workers, including police and firefighters, are represented by one of four major unions. If unions don't agree to the pay freeze, Biedenharn says the city will look for "other budget savings options," including layoffs.
Dayton officials say other governmental bodies are going to face similar hard choices.
Cuyahoga County told about 40 service agencies in June that nearly seven million dollars of funding will be cut off at the year's end. The county has not ruled out job losses.
In July, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson told department managers and directors that fiscal controls and energy management would be closely monitored, in an attempt to avert layoffs. That oversight continues.
Akron however is downplaying the possibility of cuts, pointing to its record as one of the few cities in U.S. to have laid off no one during this 'recession'.
Akron is also one of only two 'rust belt' cities to have actually added jobs in the past five years, according to a Brookings Institution study.
