Four-Day Furloughs For Tulsa City Workers?

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor says she is considering four-day furloughs for city employees.

Word of the furloughs came in an e-mail from the mayor to city employees Wednesday.

In the e-mail, the mayor notified employees that furloughs were preferred to layoffs.

"As I noted in February, this is going to be a bumpy ride during this economic downturn. Our revenues are down and expenses have increased, primarily due to a full year of raises in our union groups which were not fully anticipated last year. I believe this downturn to be temporary but it will not be without serious financial challenges as we are going through it," said Mayor Kathy Taylor.

Taylor will present a budget to the Tulsa city council 6 p.m. Thursday.

"Temporary four-day furloughs would be the equivalent of a decrease in pay of 1.54% for this year for each employee and will save approximately $2.5 million in the general fund. The alternative is to permanently decrease our payroll by this amount, which would mean eliminating additional positions and cutting core services that are important to our citizenry," said Kathy Taylor.

In Wednesday's e-mail, the mayor also invited employees to attend a meeting Friday morning to discuss the budget.

Read what the mayor says about the city's budget.