Town of Palm Beach News

Town of Palm Beach Manager Makes Plea for No Layoffs

The Manager of the Town of Palm Beach Tom Bradford has made a plea with the Town Council to take certain considerations before imposing a work force reduction, as a part of comprehensive departmental reviews of areas to cut costs.

On Oct. 1st, the Town of Palm Beach Town Council approved an $80.5 million spending plan; virtually a $9 million increase from the 2017 budget, sparking the need for the review which resulted in savings upward of $3 million.

Bradford suggested that job reductions, if any, should be gradual and limited. Over the course of almost two decades, the full-time job count has dwindled down to less than 370 positions, after reaching as high as 415 in 2001.

The first draft review of Town operations is expected to be submitted by the staff to the Council late February 2018. The goal, according to Bradford, is to find ways to “achieve all that we currently achieve, but spend less on people or resources.”

Town of Palm Beach Manager Makes Plea for No Layoffs

Council officials expressed their concerns about the output of Town employees, with the possibility of losing their jobs looming over them.“If you want an honest evaluation of staffing you cannot ask the employees to budget themselves out of a job,” stated Council Member Dani Moore.

Mayor Gail Coniglio suggested weighing in with residents to establish priorities as the starting point, stating, “I hesitate to describe to this community and loyal workforce that we are looking for areas to slash and burn,” she said. “It could be too much or too little.”

Related>>> Town Manager Tom Bradford Gets His Goals From Town Council

In addition to finding ways to cut costs without reducing services, the Staff will tasked with finding ways to generate revenue by implementing increases in code violation penalties and other fees. Costs for maintenance services, fleet inventory, pensions and employee health insurance will all be considered for shaving.

Bradford said there would be a spending and cost analysis break-down and comparison with Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Jupiter and Delray Beach.

Previous post

Town of Palm Beach Names Employee of the Year

Next post

Palm Beach Historical Shopping District Speed Limit Slowed to 25mph

The Author

Evan S.

Evan S.

Carter is obsessed with breaking news and has written for several newspapers and blogs around the country.

1 Comment

  1. […] Town of Palm Beach Manager Makes Plea for No Layoffs […]

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.