By Luc Brown
The City of Jackson is facing a $4 million budget deficit for the 2019-2020 fiscal year and an even larger deficit for the 2020-2021 fiscal year due to COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Friday afternoon news release from the City of Jackson.
“Like many businesses in our community, the City of Jackson has also been financially impacted by COVID-19,” said Jackson Mayor Scott Conger. “We knew this would happen when we put restrictions on the local economy, but lives were more important than money and we didn’t have a choice.”
Conger added, “Financial assistance from the federal level has been minimal and will not put us back on track to operate within our means. These decisions were not easy to make. Today we notified some of our employees that they will be placed on a 16-week furlough effective Saturday, May 2.”
The release said furloughed employees have been given a return to work date of Monday, August 24. During this time, the city will continue to cover medical benefits of furloughed employees. They will also receive unemployment benefits which are currently paying up to $875 per week.
The City of Jackson is furloughing 60 full-time employees and 133 part-time employees, the release said. Some of the furloughed employees are part-time or seasonal staff from summer programs which will not operate in 2020. Summer events at city venues will also be re-evaluated.
City services will continue to operate as expected, the release said. Remaining staff have stepped in to fill any gaps that may have occurred.
In addition to the steps referenced above, all department heads (including the mayor) have received a temporary pay cut based on a percentage of their salary.