Oct 10, 2008 6:27 pm US/Central
Daley Cuts Jobs, Says Economy's Going To Get Worse
Expect More City Layoffs Before Things Get Better In Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Mayor Richard M. Daley says a "very scary situation" in the economy has proven that homeowners need a tax break. (File)
CBS
Mayor Richard Daley issued a glum warning Friday: Chicago's economy is going to get worse before it gets better.
Daley says he's eliminating 240 jobs to compensate for declining tax revenues. And as CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, Daley is expected to announce about 4,000 more job cuts next week.
City Hall's announcement will force the layoff of about 100 mid- and lower-level managers and about a dozen top-level political appointees. Warning of thousands more cuts to come, the mayor said the current financial crisis precludes the alternative: a repeat of this year's big tax increase.
"Watch the stock market," Daley said."Yesterday was terrible. Today's terrible. So, this is worsening, not only here, but throughout the world."
Labor unions representing city workers are already preparing for more than 4,000 job eliminations they expect the mayor to announce next Wednesday. A member of the City Council said Friday that the deteriorating economy could make things even worse, that the city's projected budget shortfall has worsened from $420 million estimated last month to almost $470 million now.
"I don't want to see anyone lose their job, but there's just layer on top of layer of people in supervisory positions that...or supervisory titles, I should say, that don't supervise anyone," said Lou Phillips, business manager of Laborers Local 1001.
"Times are tough. And we're looking at, probably, a slowdown for the next year or two," Chuck Papp said. "And everybody has to participate, unfortunately, in times like."
"This city's been a well-oiled machine for a really long time, so, I don't think it's gonna be a problem," said Latisha Newton. "It's probably only temporary, until the economy gets it together."
To close the lid on tax increases, the mayor says these job cuts are necessary. He promises new efficiencies that should minimize the impact on city services.
One key to the mayor's supervisory job cuts: he merged all or parts of eight city departments into just three.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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