Bridgeport – Mayor Joe Ganim today announced that his administration will be instituting unpaid furloughs for appointed staff during the current fiscal year, and will be offering an early retirement incentive program to all eligible city employees.  These combined efforts are designed to reduce personnel costs at a time when the Ganim administration is struggling  to close the FY 2016 budget deficit of $20 Million.  In addition to these measures, Mayor Ganim will also be seeking concessions to achieve savings from the municipal government’s organized labor unions representing thousands of city employees.

“The fiscal reality my administration inherited has forced our city government to make some very difficult choices,” said Mayor Ganim.  “The bottom line is we need to achieve some real savings and reduce our personnel costs.  Those in my administration – myself included – are already giving up some of their salary to help balance the budget.  We will also be offering some incentives for longtime city employees to retire.  These are good faith efforts to cut spending in a responsible way, and my message to organized labor is one of partnership.  We are all in this together.  My appointed staff is giving up real dollars, and therefore I will be asking for concessions from our partners in collective bargaining units as well.”

Mayor Ganim is giving appointed staff in his administration the choice of 10 days of unpaid furloughs in the current fiscal year, or five days in FY 2016 and an other five in FY 2017.  The mayor plans to highlight more details of both the furloughs as well as the age and years of service eligibility requirements for the early retirement incentive program in the coming days after he presents the FY 2017 budget to the Bridgeport City Council on Monday April 4, 2016.

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