Questions and Answers About Employee Layoffs in Orange

Why are layoffs necessary?
Orange faces a $6.4million gap between revenues and what we spend. This crisis was created by Governor Christie’s cut of $3 million in state aid, higher salary and benefit costs and a bad economy. For example, Christie’s $1.1 million cut in our Urban Enterprise Zone funding took away money that paid for 11 police officers and 9 public works employees.
Because salaries and benefits are 95% of city spending, the only way to make a big cut in spending is to reduce the cost of city employees.

What will happen if Orange does not layoff employees?

If no layoffs or other reductions in the cost of employees take place, property taxes will increase by more than 20%

Are other cities laying off employees?
Thanks to Governor Christie and the weak economy, Newark, Trenton, Hoboken, Jersey City, Linden, Hillside, Irvington, and many other N.J. cities are forced into layoffs.

How many employees will lose their jobs?
52 will lose jobs and another 24 will be demoted to lower-paying jobs to prevent even more layoffs. Because the police, fire and public works together comprise 83% of Orange’s personnel costs, those services must lose the most employees.

Is there any way to reduce the number of employees losing jobs?
A 20% base pay cut for employees would save many jobs and prevent some service reductions. The City is open to consider work rule and benefit changes that would result in the same savings without affecting base pay. The City administration wants to preserve jobs in these difficult economic times. 

Are there other ways to cut spending or find new revenues?
The Hawkins Administration continues to aggressively look for ways to reduce spending and develop new revenues. Orange has already reduced employee costs by $2.3 million through attrition and retirements and saved money through a hiring freeze on non-essential jobs, givebacks from unions, public/private partnerships, shared service agreements, and other savings. The City is one of the most successful in attracting outside funding, over $8 million in two years to help hold down taxes.

Are city employees responsible for the financial crisis?
Absolutely not. Orange has dedicated, talented and hard-working employees, and our unions have generously negotiated past givebacks to reduce costs. It is tragic that employees and taxpayers are being crushed by the result of decades of mismanagement in Trenton and the consequences of the worst economy since the great depression.