Local News - Hammonton to lay off 10 municipal workers, including four police officers
By ROB SPAHR Staff Writer | Posted: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 | 13 comments
HAMMONTON - Ten town workers were notified Monday by Mayor Steve DiDonato that they could be laid off.
The workers included four police officers, four administrative workers, one highway department worker, and one parks and recreation employee.
DiDonato said the decision was made based on the town's $330,000 reduction in state aid, which - when coupled with a $225,000 increase in health insurance costs, $300,000 in additional pension liability and a $200,000 drop in revenue - has the town facing a budget gap of more than $1 million....Continue Reading
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"This is not an easy decision. We do not take the possibility of laying off workers lightly," DiDonato said. "Personally, I feel the hardest decision any leader of government or a company can make is to tell one of their employees that their services are no longer needed."
If the town had properly filed the mandatory Rice notifications to the employees, those employees could have been unemployed effective Monday night if the Town Council voted to approve the layoffs. But because those papers were not filed properly, the employees have until April 1 to fight for their jobs.
That fight began at Monday night's Town Council meeting, as town workers, their families and concerned residents packed Town Hall to plead with the governing body to do whatever possible to save their jobs.
Patrolman Jason Rigby attended the meeting with his pregnant wife, Lisa, and 2-year-old daughter, Alyssa.
Rigby was already a seasoned law-enforcement officer when he transferred from the Atlantic County Sheriff's Office to the Hammonton Police Department five years ago. On Monday afternoon, he was told his job was all but eliminated.
He was given a timetable for when his paychecks would cease and when his benefits would run out. The latter was June 1 - the same date Lisa is due to deliver the couple's second child.
"It was very difficult to call her and tell her that I was about to lose my job," said Rigby, 30, of Hammonton. "And now I've got to start applying for jobs and hoping that someone has a need for an experienced police officer."
Rigby said he found it difficult to comprehend that the town was planning to lay off four police officers after four consecutive years of no tax increases - DiDonato anticipates this year will be the fifth.
"I think it's fair to say to say that a majority of people probably wouldn't mind paying a little extra to keep the town safe. Especially after their taxes were kept stable for the last four or five years," Rigby said. "If the town loses four officers, it is going to create a safety issue here. I don't think anyone wants that to happen."
But DiDonato said raising taxes is not the solution.
"Tax increases, in this case, would still mean a dramatic reduction in staff," he said. "Because with the governor's new 2.5-percent cap, it would not do enough to fill the void."
Patrolman William Kurz received a text message telling him that he had to meet with Chief Frank Ingemi and DiDonato.
"I knew what the deal was," said Kurz, 29. "It wasn't going to be good news."
And the timing could not be worse for Kurz, who recently purchased a new home. He chose to buy in Hammonton because he wanted to invest in the town he helps to protect.
"I bought it as a place to live with my girlfriend and son, because I thought I had a stable job. But apparently, that's not the case," he said. "Now I have to start applying for another job, because the bills have to get paid. But with all the other towns laying off police, there could be 300 to 350 experienced police officers all going for one opening. It's going to be tough."
Ingemi said his department is already operating with four open positions that were not filled after they were vacated. This means there are actually eight jobs getting eliminated from the Police Department, he said, not just those of the four officers who met with the mayor Monday.
"I think there's a lot of anger and a lot of hurt right now," Ingemi said. "I think, as far as the anger, that this group of guys knows how to keep that anger to the side. But these guys have done a lot of good here in Hammonton, and it hurts them to know that there is a chance of them losing their jobs."
DiDonato said if all of the town's employees agreed to take a 10 percent reduction in pay, it would save all 10 jobs.
"But do I think that everyone will agree to that? No, I do not," he said after the meeting. "I guess I am just hopeful that they will."
Still, Ingemi said he is optimistic that something will happen in the eleventh hour to prevent the layoffs.
"This department is a second family to me," Ingemi said. "If we can find a way to save these jobs, we will."
Contact Robert Spahr: 609-272-7283 RSpahr@pressofac.com
