City Adjusts Staffing Levels

During this long and widespread recession, the City of Chesterfield has not been immune to the negative effects caused by this economic downturn. We have seen a significant slowdown in economic development in both the residential and commercial sectors throughout our City. In addition, we now expect our population to remain near current levels, rather than the moderate growth that was expected. The impact on our operations has been to reduce the demand for City services, in many areas.

Over the past year, we shifted resources from working on projects, to a much-needed effort to bring our systems and procedures up-to-date. With that effort completed and the continuing lack of development activity, as noted above, it became apparent to me that we now need to reduce our work force, to match the lower level of activity.

In addition, sales tax revenues, which account for approximately one-third of all operating revenues, have been declining. With this in mind, we have carefully scrutinized our operating budgets over the past several years and have reduced, deferred or eliminated costs wherever possible. However, these actions were not enough to offset the lower revenues.

As a result, this week, the City of Chesterfield adjusted staffing levels to better meet the needs of the City's operational budget. Overall, 22 positions were affected, with two positions being reclassified to part-time and four being unfilled positions that were eliminated. The reductions were across-the board, including: 10 existing employees and two unfilled positions within Planning & Public Works, Finance, and Economic Development areas the operation. Within police operations, one civilian employee, five current uniformed officers and two vacant police officer positions were affected. All employees are being offered severance as well as continued health insurance coverage, through December 31, 2010.

After the adjustments, the City's workforce now consists of 202 full-time employees, with the eliminated positions representing 8.56% of the City's full-time workforce. The reductions will save $1.3 million annually.

Staffing of our Police operations has been based on population estimates which are no longer likely to be met. With the realization that our expectations were overly optimistic, it became apparent that we have to reduce staff levels to reflect the lower population.

"The actions being implemented today, while extremely difficult, will ensure that we have the Staff and financial resources necessary to continue to provide the level and quality of services, that our residents and businesses have come to expect," stated Mayor John Nations.