By Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
Tribune Staff Writer
WESTERNPORT – The Westernport Mayor and Town Council followed through on a plan to help balance the budget through personnel reductions, with seven employees dismissed with the July 1 start of the fiscal year.
Finance Commissioner Darrell Stephen said the town council based its decision more on “slots” than individuals, primarily considering job duties in deciding who would be let go.
“We just had too many people doing the same job,” Stephen said.
A total of four full-time and three part-time employees were terminated.
As the town council had indicated during the formulation of the budget, most of the cuts landed in the streets department, where four people lost their jobs. One job was cut in the water department, one part-time Town Hall clerical position was eliminated and one part-time clerical position in the police department.
None of the reductions involved police officers, with the town council committed to providing around-the-clock coverage with the fall graduation of an officer from the police academy.
The reductions eliminate all of the town of Westernport's part-time employees. The town now has 17 full-time workers -- including police officers -- down from its previous total of 21.
Stephen, a newcomer to the town council who did most of the heavy lifting in developing the new budget, said the decision to trim staff was not made lightly. The alternative, he noted, would have been to drastically increase water, sewer and other fees.
“We just can no longer afford to have that many employees,” he said.
Westernport, Md. —
