EMPLOYMENT NEWS: San Mateo to Lay-Off City Workers to Cut Costs

February 12, 2010

San Mateo – A proposed cost-cutting plan could result in the lay-off of a number of city workers in the community development department of San Mateo, a community development agency said recently.

Once the proposed cuts are approved by the City Council, the city will start to give notices to the affected employees on Thursday and Friday.

The affected staff will be officially let on April 4 as the city’s union contract requires 30 day notices.

According to Community Development Director Lisa Grote, the cuts cannot be avoided anymore as the division will be on the red by the end of the fiscal year if the cuts are not implemented.

Grote said that the department has been hammered by the decline in commercial and housing markets and it resulted to a major decrease in two of its major revenue sources: planning fees and building permit fees.

The department avoided lay-offs the past year by removing forty vacant positions and dipping from its reserve funds. However, those funds are almost depleted and more cuts are needed to avoid a deficit.

About eight employees will be affected by the lay-offs including seven full time staffers and one part time employee.

The affected full time employees are two building inspectors, an associate planner, an office assistant, a plan checker, a public service planner, and a secretary.

The last one is a part-time graphic technician. Grote said the move will save the department about $213,000 for the rest of the current fiscal year and about $852,000 on the next.