counterattack
07-03-2007, 05:35 PM
Newark Employees Have July 6 Deadline to Take Buyouts (Update1)
By Terrence Dopp
July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Newark, New Jersey, city workers have until July 6 to accept early retirement packages or face the possibility of losing their jobs as Mayor Cory Booker seeks to close a $180 million budget deficit and stave off tax increases.
Booker, a first-term Democrat, said at least 500 employees must take the buyouts, with payouts ranging from 30 percent to 60 percent of pay plus three months of medical coverage, or offers will be extended to police and firefighters. If too few workers accept the packages, Booker said he may be forced to dismiss up to 1,000 workers, or 20 percent of Newark's workforce.
``We are sitting down with our unions, nobody wants to see this,'' said Lupe Todd, Booker's spokeswoman. She said just 106 people have submitted paperwork to take the offers. ``It's been slow. That's why he's now preparing people for the next step, which is layoffs.''
Booker, 38, a Rhodes Scholar who yesterday marked one year as head of New Jersey's largest city, took over from former five-term Mayor Sharpe James vowing to fight crime in Newark and improve its finances. The city of 280,000, located 13 miles (21 kilometers) west of New York City, has a jobless rate of 8.5 percent, compared with 4.5 percent nationwide and 4.3 percent in New Jersey.
Last year, Booker pushed through an 8.4 percent increase in property taxes. Todd said Booker wants to avoid a similar move in the future.
`Ill-Equipped'
Booker's timeframe calls for setting a 4:30 p.m. deadline to avoid extending buyouts to police and firefighters. If the attrition isn't high enough by Aug. 3, the mayor will begin trimming. Firings will begin with the 10 percent of city workers Booker has identified as ``ill-equipped for the job they are doing,'' Todd said yesterday in an interview.
Rahaman Muhammad, president of the SEIU Local 617 representing 3,000 Newark workers, said because the city requires all municipal workers other than police and firefighters to live Newark, the dismissals would hit the struggling city disproportionately hard. He estimated 70 percent of workers are residents.
``This union is going to fight, we will do actions in the street to let this man know our dissatisfaction with him,'' Muhammad, who supported Booker against James, said today in an interview. ``Legally we can't stop him, the only thing we can is make sure everything is done fairly.''
Early in Term
David Rebovich, a political scientist at Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, said by raising taxes last year and announcing potential firings this year, Booker may be able to create some distance from the moves when he stands for re- election in 2010.
``He wants to be the guy who cleans up Newark politically and fiscally so he has to fight the status quo,'' Rebovich said. ``To people in Newark, and to investors who might want to bring some business into the city, he's saying he's not willing to let property taxes skyrocket so they don't get scared away.''
Booker campaigned pledging to change what he called a ``culture that in many ways supports lawlessness.'' He also went from being an opponent of the under-construction Prudential Center arena downtown for NHL's New Jersey Devils to a booster after securing a guarantee that 1,500 jobs will be set aside for Newark residents.
To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Trenton, New Jersey at tdopp@bloomberg.net .
Last Updated: July 2, 2007 13:00 EDT
By Terrence Dopp
July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Newark, New Jersey, city workers have until July 6 to accept early retirement packages or face the possibility of losing their jobs as Mayor Cory Booker seeks to close a $180 million budget deficit and stave off tax increases.
Booker, a first-term Democrat, said at least 500 employees must take the buyouts, with payouts ranging from 30 percent to 60 percent of pay plus three months of medical coverage, or offers will be extended to police and firefighters. If too few workers accept the packages, Booker said he may be forced to dismiss up to 1,000 workers, or 20 percent of Newark's workforce.
``We are sitting down with our unions, nobody wants to see this,'' said Lupe Todd, Booker's spokeswoman. She said just 106 people have submitted paperwork to take the offers. ``It's been slow. That's why he's now preparing people for the next step, which is layoffs.''
Booker, 38, a Rhodes Scholar who yesterday marked one year as head of New Jersey's largest city, took over from former five-term Mayor Sharpe James vowing to fight crime in Newark and improve its finances. The city of 280,000, located 13 miles (21 kilometers) west of New York City, has a jobless rate of 8.5 percent, compared with 4.5 percent nationwide and 4.3 percent in New Jersey.
Last year, Booker pushed through an 8.4 percent increase in property taxes. Todd said Booker wants to avoid a similar move in the future.
`Ill-Equipped'
Booker's timeframe calls for setting a 4:30 p.m. deadline to avoid extending buyouts to police and firefighters. If the attrition isn't high enough by Aug. 3, the mayor will begin trimming. Firings will begin with the 10 percent of city workers Booker has identified as ``ill-equipped for the job they are doing,'' Todd said yesterday in an interview.
Rahaman Muhammad, president of the SEIU Local 617 representing 3,000 Newark workers, said because the city requires all municipal workers other than police and firefighters to live Newark, the dismissals would hit the struggling city disproportionately hard. He estimated 70 percent of workers are residents.
``This union is going to fight, we will do actions in the street to let this man know our dissatisfaction with him,'' Muhammad, who supported Booker against James, said today in an interview. ``Legally we can't stop him, the only thing we can is make sure everything is done fairly.''
Early in Term
David Rebovich, a political scientist at Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, said by raising taxes last year and announcing potential firings this year, Booker may be able to create some distance from the moves when he stands for re- election in 2010.
``He wants to be the guy who cleans up Newark politically and fiscally so he has to fight the status quo,'' Rebovich said. ``To people in Newark, and to investors who might want to bring some business into the city, he's saying he's not willing to let property taxes skyrocket so they don't get scared away.''
Booker campaigned pledging to change what he called a ``culture that in many ways supports lawlessness.'' He also went from being an opponent of the under-construction Prudential Center arena downtown for NHL's New Jersey Devils to a booster after securing a guarantee that 1,500 jobs will be set aside for Newark residents.
To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Trenton, New Jersey at tdopp@bloomberg.net .
Last Updated: July 2, 2007 13:00 EDT