The Sacramento Bee eliminated 12 positions Monday, but offered six of the affected employees new jobs. Two newsroom employees were laid off, but no writers or editors. "I don't want to discount the fact that some people lost their jobs yesterday, but they were not involved in the gathering of news," said Sacramento Bee Communifty Affairs Director Pam Dinsmore. One of the two newsroom employees laid off worked as a photo technician and the other worked as a newsroom librarian, according to Dinsmore. She catogrized the move as a "reorganization." The Bee and its parent company, The McClatchy Company, have gone through multiple rounds of layoffs in recent years, a symptom of the steady dec

The City Council passed its final budget Tuesday night by a vote of 8-1 on the heels of an unexpected announcement by City Manager John Shirey that tentative agreements had been reached with three city unions. The agreements with Stationary Engineers International Union Local 39, Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522 and Sacramento City Exempt Employee’s Association could reduce the city’s budget gap by nearly $8 million and prevent more than 100 layoffs. The details of the agreements have not been released, but the main issue in contention between the city and the unions is the amount of money employees contribute toward their retirement funds, and it's likely the agreement has increas

Sacramento city and county were awarded a total of $19.4 million in federal funding grants Wednesday – enough to put 25 police officers and 25 sheriff’s deputies back to work for the next three years. The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program is a competitive grant program through the U.S. Department of Justice that provides funding to state and local law enforcement agencies to hire, rehire, or retain police officers. This year, 2,712 law enforcement agencies requesting more than $2 billion to fund the hiring of 8,999 officers were considered for COPS Hiring Program funding, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Selection for awards was based on an applicant

Despite losing 42 sworn police officers this week due to budget cuts, the Sacramento Police Department was able to keep one officer whose job is enforcing liquor license regulations and making sure licensees know the rules and follow them. A $75,000 grant was awarded to the city of Sacramento from the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), allowing the city to fill the second of only two ABC liaison officer positions in the Police Department. ABC liaison officers play a vital role in keeping bars and restaurants in compliance with liquor laws, said Lt. Gina Haynes of the Sacramento Police Department’s Metro Division. According to city staff, Sacramento has more than 1,000

Mayor Kevin Johnson spoke about the need for representatives of the Sacramento Police Officers Association (SPOA) to meet with the city to explore ways to save police officers from impending layoffs at a Tuesday press conference. “All of us on the council – the six that voted one way and the other three of us that didn’t – are reaching out to the SPOA asking for a meaningful dialogue,” Johnson said. The City Council passed a budget on a 6-3 vote on June 21 that included more than $12 million in cuts to the Police Department and paved the way for more than 40 sworn police officers to be laid off July 1. “We are at a difficult crossroad,” Johnson said. “(The City Council) said public safe

More than 300 city positions will be eliminated in the coming year after the City Council passed a finalized city budget Tuesday night. Despite impassioned pleas from members of the Sacramento City Crime Scene Investigation unit and local union representatives, the 14-member CSI unit and 45 sworn police officers are on the chopping block. The budget passed on a 6-3 vote, with Council members Angelique Ashby, Steve Cohn and Mayor Kevin Johnson each voting against the measure. The new budget incorporates $4.6 million in one-time resources to close the gap for fiscal year 2011-12. It also funnels $3.36 million into the city’s economic uncertainty reserve fund. Betty Masuoka, assistant int

Approval of a final city budget that includes $39 million in ongoing cuts and the elimination of 320 city positions is expected at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, but Police Department personnel aren’t holding out hope for an 11th-hour save from potential layoffs. “The council is firm on its decision,” said Det. Mark Tyndale, Sacramento Police Officers Association (SPOA) vice president. “And we are firm in ours.” On June 7, City Council members urged SPOA representatives to consider contract concessions for its members in an effort to relieve the burden of deep budget cuts that will have a significant impact on the Police Department and public safety personnel. The SPOA has not made any

Thirty-five police jobs were saved from proposed layoffs after the Sacramento Police Department received a waiver on a federal grant that funds officer positions, spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong confirmed late Tuesday night. The number of proposed layoffs in the 2011/2012 budget for Sacramento police officers has dropped from 81 to 46. The City Council will vote next week on proposed budget cuts that include layoffs of cops and other Police Department staffers. Council members were weighing whether to lay off 81 police officers, but the grant waiver means they will decide whether to lay off 46 officers. The council will also choose whether to lay off 68 civilian police department staffers – th

Despite reports of the city’s proposals to lay off more than 350 jobs, including 80 sworn police officers, during Tuesday’s press conference, Mayor Kevin Johnson said that avoiding such layoffs will be a priority. Throughout the conference, Johnson said he wanted Sacramento to remain a full-service city and that he hopes to alleviate any distrust between police officers and the city by playing a more active role in addressing the interests of both parties. “We’re trying to preserve as many jobs as we can and keep public safety at the top of our priorities,” he added. “We’re about to pass and adopt a budget in about three weeks or so, and we do not want to be in a position where our comm

The Sacramento City Council members made it clear Tuesday night that they do not want to make the $12 million in cuts to the Police Department recommended in the proposed budget. But it’s unclear at this point how the council will lessen the cuts to the department. A crowd of police staffers and supporters, which swelled to about 400 at its high point early Tuesday evening, turned out for the City Council’s budget hearing. The city is grappling with a $39 million budget gap for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. A total of 149 department staffers, including 80 sworn cops, would be laid off in the proposed budget, according to police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong. The city currently has 701 sworn co

Sacramento County’s budget situation for the 2011/2012 fiscal year could be described by the grammatically incorrect but accurate phrase “less bad.” In other words, the county’s budget gap of $90 million is less severe than the $181 million shortfall it faced last year. But the current gap, which is likely to result in a wave of layoffs, is still grim. County Interim Executive Officer Steven Szalay laid out budget details in a Friday morning press conference at the downtown county building on H Street. The county plans to cut 321 employee positions in its budget process, Szalay said. “I’m very sad to have to have these service-level reductions,” he said. “They’re definitely going to hur

The city’s current budget gap of $39 million is grim. But the city’s financial situation is even more dismal when examined in the context of its budget cuts in recent years. The city has laid off about 215 employees since February 2008, according to city spokeswoman Amy Williams. In addition, the city has taken 900 positions off its books since the 2008/2009 fiscal year and cannot hire employees for those spots, according to the city budget document. The city currently has 4,576 employee positions, Williams said. Interim City Manager Bill Edgar and Interim Deputy City Manager Betty Masuoka are recommending the City Council approve an $812 million budget for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. Of

More than 350 jobs, including those of 80 sworn police officers, could be cut to balance the city’s budget, Interim City Manager Bill Edgar said Friday. The city manager’s office released recommendations Friday on how to resolve a $39 million budget gap. The proposal released by the city is not set in stone: The City Council is responsible for making final budget decisions. “This is the budget that everyone has dreaded,” Edgar said. “(This is) the budget where the chickens come home to roost.” The city manager’s office proposes cutting 294 positions. In addition, Edgar said he is recommending that the City Council cut about 60 more positions to privatize maintenance of city golf courses

The mood in The Sacramento Bee's newsroom has been grim this week after its parent, the McClatchy Company, announced another 32 jobs will soon be cut. Management notified 32 people on Monday that they were facing layoffs unless others agreed to take buyout packages. Dozens of people have since been asked to consider accepting buyouts that amount to two weeks' severance pay for every year worked, up to 40 weeks. Their responses are due by 10 a.m. Tuesday morning. Announcements about the layoffs are expected soon after, Bee Community Affairs Director Pam Dinsmore said. "We're calling it a job elimination, so it means those jobs are going away," she said. Newsroom employees are still "ree

The Sacramento Bee announced Monday it will be cutting back 32 positions, nine of which are in the newsroom. “It is the price of doing business in this region at this time,” said Pam Dinsmore, community affairs director for the Bee. “The hope is that this is a voluntary separation agreement,” she added. “There are two reporter jobs that are being eliminated. Outside of two reporters, there are seven others in the newsroom that can opt to take a severance package. Most of those are in the production of the newspaper.” Monday’s announcement marks the fourth job reduction at the Bee since March 9, 2009, amounting to a total of 214 jobs. Not taking into account this week’s cutback announcem

Sacramento’s city and county governments confronted grim budget situations throughout 2010. The city faced a $43 million budget gap, while the county struggled with a $181 million hole. Local government employees felt the pain of budget cuts: Sacramento County laid off about 380 employees during the summer. The county also slashed 29 positions in its engineering department in September. The county will no longer hire engineers for those spots. City officials laid off 12 workers represented by Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 447, city spokeswoman Amy Williams said in September. The layoffs occurred after talks between the city and the union failed. However, the city’s job loss situation

An audit report stating that the city’s development department failed to collect more than $2.3 million in fees from developers raises a host of questions. The audit’s finding that city employees broke state and city laws makes the situation even more complex. The audit, prepared by Sacramento firm Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting, Inc., investigated the department’s work from fiscal years 2007 through 2010. “In summary, the weak system of internal controls allowed employees to disregard state and city building laws, codes, and regulations aimed at protecting the public’s health, safety, and general welfare,” the audit states. Read the full audit report here. The City Council is expected to

Sacramento County has made about 340 fewer layoffs than it had predicted it would make as a result of June budget cuts. County officials in June estimated that at least 725 employees could be laid off. The county resolved a $181 million budget gap in June when it passed a first draft of its budget. But County Budget Officer Tom Burkart said in an interview Wednesday that the county ended up laying off about 380 people, instead of 725. “The 725 actually was an estimate,” Burkart said. “And we did cut 700-plus positions, but they weren’t laid off.” Retirements, demotions and vacant positions kept the number of out-the-door layoffs down, according to Burkart. The county’s layoff process

An official with a union representing 1,600 full-time city workers said that the union and the city government have found a way to avoid lay offs. Joan Bryant, director of public employees for Stationary Engineers Local 39, told the Sacramento Press that city managers and her union found common ground on contract negotiations Friday afternoon. Local 39 and the city worked out a tentative two-year agreement, Bryant said. She said the agreement would include no pay cuts. The contract also includes 11 furlough days for the 2010/2011 fiscal year, she said. In the 2011/2012 fiscal year, there would be 12 furlough days. The tentative contract also would give each employee 40 hours of personal

 Maintaining Sacramento’s 100,000 trees is no small task, and with seven positions likely to be cut next week, the Urban Forestry tree maintenance staff will be stretched even thinner. “We’ve gone from about 58 full-time-equivalent employees to 28 since 2005,” said Urban Forestry Manager Joe Benassini. Those 28 positions are currently filled, with another eight technically on the books but not staffed. Benassini said the department has not been filling positions vacated through attrition in anticipation of the budget problems and has yet to lay off any employees. But unless an agreement with unions is made by Aug. 5, some staffers will be let go. Residents at the July 19 Area 1 Neighbo