Syracuse, N.Y. — Onondaga County on Friday furloughed 19 full-time employees and laid off seven more in a first wave of job cuts to contend with a budget crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, County Executive Ryan McMahon said today.
Seventeen of the furloughed employees worked at the public library, compounding the effect of staffing cuts the library already suffered earlier this year. As a result of the job cuts, the downtown Central Library, which was updated with a $8.7 million renovation in 2016, is likely to remain closed through March, McMahon said.
Of the seven laid-off employees, most came from the county finance department, with a few from elsewhere, McMahon said.
In addition to the involuntary furloughs and layoffs, some employees volunteered to reduce their work hours or to retire early. Those voluntary measures, which were part of a deal negotiated with county union leaders, helped limit the need for involuntary job cuts, McMahon said.
Eleven employees from various departments volunteered to shorten their work schedule by at least one day a week, McMahon said.
And 35 employees elected to take an early retirement incentive that was initially offered last spring but reopened last week for a few days. They will get a $5,000 cash incentive and a locked-in health insurance premium. In addition to employees who took the offer in June, a total of nearly 200 employees retired early this year.
The workers selected for involuntary furloughs could remain out of work through March 31 unless the situation improves, McMahon said. They can keep their health benefits until then, but there is no guarantee they will be brought back to work rather than laid off when the furloughs expire.
The job cuts are necessary to deal with a budget deficit caused by the pandemic and the resulting loss of sales tax revenue and state funding, McMahon said. More cuts could come in October if sales tax revenues remain low, he said.
McMahon said he focused the first round of job cuts on the library because the Central Library and eight Syracuse branch libraries – all staffed by the county – were already closed and providing limited services. The libraries currently provide only curb-side pickup to lend materials.
McMahon said he will encourage the library system to use its remaining staff to try to reopen some or all of the branch libraries to support neighborhoods now that school is back in session. A staffing plan is being worked on, he said.
Unfortunately, the Central Library likely will remain closed except for curb-side book pickups through March, he said.
All 23 libraries in the county closed following the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, some suburban libraries have reopened for limited in-person visits. The suburban libraries share books and resources with the county but provide their own staff.
The Central Library had already been hit hard by the pandemic. Last March, in response to the mounting costs of the pandemic, county officials eliminated work for 225 part-time employees. That included about 80 part-time library employees, most of who worked at the Central Library, said Justin Sayles, speaking for McMahon.
Two of the 19 involuntary furloughs came from the parks department, which is approaching its slow winter season, McMahon said.
The county’s situation is fluid, McMahon said. He said he plans to make month-to-month decisions about staffing based on whether tax revenues improve and whether the county gets more federal aid.
All told, the cuts announced today should save an estimated $6 million through the end of 2021, McMahon said.
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