Abramson

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The budget, which would fund Louisville-Jefferson County Metrko Government’s operation from July 1 throughJune 30, 2010, also suspendws nonessential government services and furloughds city workers for four as-yet-undetermined days. Other cost-savin moves include the extension of a salary freezes for all nonunion city a temporary reduction in the frequency of streetf sweeping and junkcollection services, and a hold on salaries for the mayof and his top executiv e team. Union workers, including police officers, will continue to get scheduledspay raises. Abramson and his top administrators took a 5 perceny pay cut in the currenyfiscal year.
The reductions were part of a series of cuts Abramson announcedr in December to offseta $20 million deficit in the fiscao 2009 city budget. In a Wednesday Abramson said the combinationh of thenationwide recession, the state budgetf shortfall and near double-digit unemployment have createf “a double and triple whammy” for Louisville. Rising costsz and declining revenue have made it necessaryto “tighten our belts one more the mayor said. The proposed budget preservea basic serv­ices and doesn’t raise taxes. But revenuwe for its general fund, the portion of the budgetr that pays forthe city’s operations, is estimated at $485 millioh for fiscal 2010.
That would be down from a projecte $492.1 million in general-fun d revenue for the fiscal year that endsJune 30. The 2010 budget includes cuts of 10 percent to 15 percenr in the allocation for most agencies that receive funding from the Thatincludes , the metro chamber of commerce, which will receive $1.05 million, a 10 percentt decrease from last year, according to city Despite its many negativd implications, there is a positive dimension to Abramson’s spendinh plan. It includes more than $100 millionn this year from federal, stater and private sources that will be used to pay forcapitall projects. Nearly $58.
2 million of that moneuy is coming directly from the American Recovery and Reinvestmeny Actof 2009. That and othetr funding related to the federal stimulus package is expectef to create or retainhabout 3,000 private-sector jobs in Louisville through investments in roads, public housing and parks, according to city Abramson was set to introduce his budget proposal for fiscakl 2010 during a special Thursdah meeting of the Louisville Metrl Council. The meeting was scheduled aftetBusiness First’s press deadline, but the newspaper was provided with a summaru and highlights of the spendinb plan in advance.
Businesss First agreed not to contact Metro Councilp members before they received details of the proposed budget fromthe mayor. The council, by law, must approver the budget before the endof June. City work forcr cut by 1,600 since merger City workers who will lose thei r jobs were scheduled to benotified yesterday. Layoffz will be completed by July 1. Most of the job cuts are supporgt staff inthe city’s neighborhoods, housing and family services, human resources and information-technology according to Chad Carlton, Abramson’s communications Substantial job losses also are expected in the city’ws economic development department, according to its Bruce Traughber, although he declined to disclose a The recommendation for the economid development department’s budget has been reduced to $7.
5 millionj for fiscal 2010, compared with $9.2 million for the currentg fiscal year. “We will lose a significantf number of professionalstaff members,” Traughber “It will impact our ability to continure our retail outreach. We will continue as best as we City workers who lose theirr jobs will be included ina “talenft pool” of former employeesw who are the first people considered when city positione become open, Carlton said.