Furlough Days to Start Friday in Point Boro

Unions representing a bulk of municipal employees have agreed to have their members take four voluntary furlough days, starting Friday and ending before the next Borough Council meeting on June 21, as part of a borough plan for most employees to take .

The Borough Council voted late Tuesday night, after a lengthy executive session with union officials, to authorize the local Teamsters members, including public works and clerical workers, and Transport Workers of America, representing managers, to start taking furlough days this Friday.

"They agreed to four, we're asking for five," said Mayor William Schroeder.

Borough Business Administrator Dave Maffei said. "If employees agree to take five days, with one day off each week starting next week, that brings us to the next council meeting on June 21."

And by the next council meeting, the council hopes to have definitive information about exactly how much money the borough has for the next municipal budget.

Schroeder said on Wednesday morning that the unions are considering taking the fifth day and will notify Maffei about their decision.

Schroeder said that because the unions are agreeing to voluntarily take furloughs, the borough doesn't have to go through a civil service procedure to request or impose them.

If they take five days between now and June 21, that would likely leave another 28 to go, Schroeder said. However, if the budget situation allows for it, the borough can always cut back on the number of furlough days imposed.

"The number of 33 is a projected number because that's how many pay periods are between now and the end of the year," he said.

Maffei had said on Tuesday that once employees began to hear that workers would be asked to take 33 furlough days this year, they were anxious to start taking them so they wouldn't be stuck with a clump of unpaid days at the end of the year.

It's expected that departments will close on their employees' furlough days so all of their employees are off at the same time, Maffei said.

The other furlough dates still have to be worked out with each department, he said.

Negotiations with the unions are ongoing regarding future furlough days and other elements of contract talks.

Police will not be furloughed because the state does not allow it.

The meeting room was packed with dozens of employees, including some from the police department, recreation, the tax assessor's office, the tax collector's office and public works.

Councilman Mitch Remig made a motion, supported unanimously by council, to cut council salaries by the same percentage amounts employees lose through furloughs.

Council members each earn $3,200 and the mayor earns about $4,200.

After the meeting, Councilman Chris Leitner said he does not accept pay for his council seat and Councilman Chris Goss said he had said when he was elected in November he only wanted $1 per year.

Leitner said council members do not get health benefits and are not in the state pension system.

Councilman  Bob Sabosik said in an interview on Tuesday that the borough is still waiting for an outside auditor and its borough officials to come up with exact figures on how much money the borough has and what kind of shortfall it's facing.

He said projections estimate that the borough is facing a shortfall of about $1.2 to $1.8 million, with some demotions,  layoffs and municipal service reductions still possible.

"We know things are bad, we just don't know how bad," said Sabosik, who was first elected to council in November.

The council, also after executive session, reappointed tax assessor Robyn Palughi.

The council had originally scheduled a budget workshop to be held Wednesday night. However, that was cancelled due to lack of quorum, which is a majority of council.

Instead, the meeting will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Borough Hall.