LORAIN – The city jail will close, the Parks Department will be disbanded and 36 city employees will be laid off in an effort to balance next year’s budget and save about $2 million.

Layoff notices were given to the employees and police staff Friday personally by Mayor Tony Krasienko, who called each of the employees into his office to break the bad news.

The layoffs won’t be final for the next few weeks due to contractual issues, but once they are, 23 city workers, three police dispatchers and three corrections officers will be out of work. Seven firefighters are expected to be given layoff notices before the end of the year along with some city managers as soon as next week.

Krasienko’s voice was soft and somber as he discussed the layoffs with reporters Friday, sounding clearly distraught about having to take what he called “unavoidable” action.

“I met personally with employees and explained the situation,” he said. “I wanted them to hear it directly from me and understand this was not something I wanted to do, it was not something the employees caused, and it was not something we caused. This was due to devastating reductions in revenue. Although we did everything possible to avoid a layoff, this time it’s unavoidable.”

City expenditures actually came in about $600,000 under budget this year, but revenue was down $1.5 million. Krasienko said the cuts will do little to tackle this year’s budget issues, but should put the city in the black next year.

Krasienko said the loss of the jail – which will save about $250,000 annually – is especially troubling since it proved so useful a tool to officers when it reopened in 2008 after being shut down four years earlier to cut costs.

Elyria closed its jail in September to save money and the county may have to close a wing of its jail and lay off corrections officers to handle skyrocketing costs.

“It’s definitely a concern,” Krasienko said. “It puts a strain on not only the county but the city as well, but the choice either way was not good: either we don’t have a jail or we have less police officers.”

He said laying off police officers will be a “last resort” and there are no plans to do so. The city recently received a four-year, $1.4 million federal stimulus grant that will pay for five officers, saving the city about $350,000 a year.

Included in the 23 city workers will be six parks employees, effectively eliminating the Parks Department and its programs. The duty of basic maintenance of the city’s parks will fall to another department, Krasienko said, and the only programs that will survive are those that are self-sustaining.

The Pipe Yard baseball stadium will not be affected as a result, he said.

Layoffs won’t be finalized until the employees who received notices Friday go through what is called “bumping.” Bumping allows more senior employees who would be laid off to to take a lower position with a lower title, sending the less senior person into the unemployment line. The process is part of most city employee contracts and will begin Thursday.

Krasienko blamed current financial difficulties in part on the previous administration’s “inaction” in tackling the deficit when it popped up in 2001 under then-Mayor Craig Foltin.

“No. 1, they could have dealt with the deficit when it was manageable, instead they tried this approach of a long slow starve of the deficit, which obviously didn’t work,” he said. “And then when they had extra money, they didn’t pay down the deficit. They continued to spend and now we’re having to reduce expenditures.”

Lorain layoffs

Building Maintenance: 1

Building and Electrical: 4

Engineering: 4

Fire*: 7

Income Tax: 1

Jail: 3

Parks: 6

Police (support staff): 2

Police (dispatchers): 3

Streets: 2

Utilities: 3

* Will receive notices by end of the year.

Contact Adam Wright at 329-7129 or awright@chroniclet.com.

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