Posted on 10/04/2005 2:38:49 PM PDT by Nice50BMG
By AMY FORLITI, Associated Press Writer 21 minutes ago
Mayor Ray Nagin said Tuesday the city is laying off as many as 3,000 employees — or about half its workforce — because of the financial damage inflicted on New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.
Nagin announced with "great sadness" that he had been unable to find the money to keep the workers on the payroll.
He said only non-essential workers will be laid off and that no firefighters or police will be among those let go.
"I wish I didn't have to do this. I wish we had the money, the resources to keep these people," Nagin said. "The problem we have is we have no revenue streams."
Nagin described the layoffs as "pretty permanent" and said that the city will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to notify municipal employees who fled the city in the aftermath of Katrina, which struck about a month ago.
The mayor said the move will save about $5 million to $8 million of the city's monthly payroll of $20 million. The layoffs will take place over the next two weeks.
"We talked to local banks and other financial institutions and we are just not able to put together the financing necessary to continue to maintain City Hall's staffing at its current levels," the mayor said.
Meanwhile, former President Clinton met with dozens of New Orleans-area evacuees staying at a shelter in Baton Rouge's convention center. And officials ended their door-to-door sweep for corpses in Louisiana with the death toll Tuesday at 972 — far fewer than the 10,000 the mayor had feared at one point. Mississippi's Katrina death toll was 221.
A company hired by the state to remove bodies will remain on call if any others are found.
Clinton, working with former President Bush to raise money for victims, shook hands and chatted with the evacuees, some of whom have been sleeping on cots in the Rivercenter's vast concrete hall for more than a month and complained of lack of showers, clean clothes, privacy and medical care.
"My concern is to listen to you ... and learn the best way to spend this money we've got," Clinton said.
Robert Warner, 51, of New Orleans said he and others have struggled to get private housing set up through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"We've been mired in the bureaucratic red tape since Day One," he said.
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"We've been mired in the bureaucratic red tape since Day One," he said.
I see they had to fit that little tidbit in at the end even though it has nothing to do with the rest of the article.
It's a shame that it took a hurricane to get New Orleans to downsize its welfare state.
I have a suggestion.
Lay off the ENTIRE affirmative-action police force, hire back the qualified, and recruit new officers.(On merit, not race).
Even before the 'cane there wasn't a more poorly trained, corrupt, incompetent police force in the United States.
It was only possible at times to distinguish between the looters and the police, because of the uniforms that the police were wearing.
I'm surprised Nagin isn't asking for us to foot the bill to put all these workers up in Vegas indefinitely.
Mayor Ray will be laid off come the next election.
"My guess is, they never existed."
My thoughts exactly.
Not hearing much about the known payroll fraud in the police force lately, are we?
Mine too.
>> How many of the layoffs will have had actual people who held the jobs? <<
:^D My first thought: Well, 7000 cops didn't exist. And how many other government workers have no intention of returning to the state. So by laying them off, they are owed continuation of benefits, unemployment compensation, and other benefits they would not receive if they simply quit because they didn't want to move back to New Orleans.
So while Nagin cries crocodile tears for his action, he is actually giving his "victims" a large benefit. And possibly corruptly so.
Effective immediately: all nonexistent employees are terminated. Now run, before the federal probe gets here...
I just love government accounting principles; lay off 50% of your workforce yields savings of 25-40%. Means that the secretaries to each minor level manager will have to get their own coffee.
No, they should be outright terminated.
Bush's fault.
**Mayor Ray will be laid off come the next election.**
Won't make any difference. They"ll just elect another
deadhead.
He could just fire them and pawn them off on to the feds to pay their unemployment. He's put everything else off on the feds.
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