{"id":1319500,"date":"2020-04-16T23:40:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T05:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/glenwood-announces-significant-budget-cuts\/"},"modified":"2020-04-16T23:40:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T05:40:00","slug":"glenwood-announces-significant-budget-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/glenwood-announces-significant-budget-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Glenwood announces significant budget cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The city of Glenwood Springs announced budget cuts Thursday in anticipation of a reduction in annual revenue of up to 50% for the year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In a news release Thursday morning, the city explained that the financial toll the COVID-19 crisis has taken on the local economy requires significant budget cuts that include reduced pay for all full-time employees and layoffs for most part-time workers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">All of the city\u2019s 179 full-time employees will be furloughed one day per pay period or have their pay reduced by 10% beginning in May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Additionally, 66 part-time employees will be laid off effective April 17, the release states.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/pi-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Seventeen part-time reserve firefighters as well as one part-time employee at the landfill and airport will not be laid off, said Hannah Klausman, public information officer for the city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI really do feel for our part-time workers because I\u2019m sure (for) a lot of them this is their second job or one of three jobs that they kind of cobble together,\u201d Mayor Jonathan Godes said at Thursday\u2019s meeting. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy for anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The city is also stopping all 401k contributions beginning May 3 and placing a hold on noncritical projects.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Klausman said city administration was working closely with Glenwood\u2019s police, fire and EMS departments to ensure those critical services continue with minimal impact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe fire department is actually one that is taking a 10-percent pay cut instead of furlough days because furlough days would have jeopardized our ability to respond,\u201d said Gary Tillotson, Glenwood Springs fire chief. \u201cIt\u2019s the best way to provide consistent coverage for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">City council unanimously adopted the city\u2019s 2020 budget on Nov. 7 \u2014 over two months before the first case of the novel coronavirus was confirmed in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Including capital projects, the city\u2019s 2020 budget amounts to approximately $90 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">According to Chief Operating Officer Steve Boyd, the furloughs and pay cuts to full-time employees will save the city $53,750 per pay period, which is every other week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWhat the city staff has sacrificed \u2026 they\u2019re incredible,\u201d Councilor Paula Stepp said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">City Manager Debra Figueroa also offered to have her salary reduced by $20,000 or just under 12% of her total $170,000 compensation, which council approved Thursday night at its regularly scheduled meeting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Figueroa\u2019s pay reduction will remain in effect for the rest of the year, unless the city\u2019s financial situation stabilizes before then.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe are all in this together and by making these sacrifices as a team, I hope to maintain all full-time employees and rehire our part-time employees as soon as possible,\u201d Figueroa said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Council also agreed Thursday to take a 20-percent pay cut until Dec. 31, unless the financial situation improves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The mayor of Glenwood Springs earns $1,200 a month and councilors $1,000 a month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Additional decisions to either recall staff to active service, extend the furlough or make layoffs are expected to be made by July 1.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThese cuts are devastating to our employees,\u201d Figueroa acknowledged in the release. \u201cUnfortunately, this drastic reduction is the only way we can remain viable for the long haul and be able to continue to function into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Thursday night, several councilmembers commended Figueroa for her leadership during the crisis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThere is no place I\u2019d rather be than here right now with the staff that I have,\u201d Figueroa said at Thursday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:mabennett@postindependent.com\">mabennett@postindependent.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/glenwood-announces-significant-budget-cuts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The city of Glenwood Springs announced budget cuts Thursday in anticipation of a reduction in annual revenue of up to 50% for the year. In a news release Thursday morning, the city explained that the financial toll the COVID-19 crisis has taken on the local economy requires significant budget cuts that include reduced pay for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1319500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-23 21:42:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1319500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1319500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1319500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1319500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}