Monroeville decides against employee furlough

Monroeville council voted down a motion that would have furloughed 17 full-time municipal staffers between the library, senior center, parks and recreation, code enforcement and engineering departments.

The motion, made by Councilman Eric Poach, to furlough 17 full-time staff members would have brought approximately $120,000 a month in savings, according to municipal Manager Tim Little.

The motion failed 3-4, with council members Linda Gaydos, Bob Williams and Poach voting in favor.

Both Mayor Nick Gresock and Deputy Mayor Grego Erosenko argued against the furlough motion, saying the action should be looked at week-by-week or even delayed until the end of May.

“I would caution council on doing this right now. I think we could always monitor this on a weekly basis,” Gresock said. In an interview with the Tribune-Review, Gresock said furloughing full-time employees is a “drastic measure.”

“We’re saving money in other ways. I think this is a time for us to support our employees and to continue to provide services to our residents. But no one says this is a permanent thing. We’re going to continue to re-evaluate,” he said.

The mayor’s wife works as director of the senior center.

She was not included in the full-time staffers under furlough consideration, Gresock said. He said all department heads are not currently being considered for furlough.

Erosenko’s wife works full time for Monroeville as a receptionist in the municipal building. She was also not part of the furlough consideration, Gresock said. The mayor said Councilman Williams’ son works in public works, which was not a department under consideration for furloughs.

Manager Tim Little made the recommendation to furlough the employees during council executive sessions prior to Tuesday’s meeting in order to defuse the financial blow Monroeville will sustain as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.

Little said the expected $7.5 million in wage taxes and a little more than $1 million in transfer taxes expected for 2020 will drop.

“Those are your big items right there,” Little said. He said the drop in that revenue is inevitable but that the municipality won’t know how severe that drop is until the end of May.

When it comes to collecting business and mercantile taxes, Little said the negative effect won’t be felt until 2021.

So, at this point, “we don’t know how much of a drop there is going to be,” he said.

“Is it prudent, possibly, to lay people off to save money? Yeah,” Little said. However, he said the municipality could monitor the situation through May to make a decision on furloughing full-time staff.

Before the vote, Poach pleaded with council members by reiterating his concern.

“If the problem occurs in 2021, whenever federal resources are not available to supplement those individuals that are furloughed … if we have to act then because we’re so short, there’s no possibility to further reimburse them,” he said. “This is trying to protect people into the future. We’re guessing here — we don’t know what that impact is.”

Despite the failure to furlough full-time employees, Monroeville has laid off 23 part-time staffers as part of a larger effort to reduce costs. Those laid off include 19 workers in the library and four in the senior services center. The move is estimated to save the municipality about $20,000 a month, according to Gresock.

The municipality has also put in place a hiring freeze on three employees that is expected to save around $300,000 this year and canceled purchases for certain capital items, Gresock said.

Council did, however, approve a resolution to advertise for bids on the $1.5 million road paving program. Council will vote on awarding that bid in May, Little said.

“But it’s up to (council) on whether they want to lower (how much they spend on roads),” he said. “The last two years council has upped it. I don’t think that will happen this year.”

During the same virtual meeting hosted by video conference, council approved an ordinance that extended municipal tax and fee deadlines.

Under the ordinance, business privilege and mercantile tax filing and payment deadlines have moved to July 15. The fee for Monroeville’s pollution control and flood reduction (also known as MS4) was extended to Sept. 30 and the trade show license fee was suspended through the year.