Budget Deficit May Force Some Layoffs

The city of Hawthorne will probably have to resort to layoffs to offset at least part of a projected $2.5-million deficit in the city’s $44.8-million budget for 1989-90, City Manager R. Kenneth Jue has told the City Council in his annual budget message.

The deficit occurred because the city received $1.1 million less in paramedic fees and sales taxes than expected for 1988-89, and an equal shortfall is projected for 1989-90, Jue said.

To offset the deficit, Jue has asked all city department heads to reduce spending by 10% and has urged the City Council to increase revenues by raising city fees.

Even with those measures, Jue warned in a somber, three-page letter accompanying the two-volume budget document that he has “requested the personnel director to research layoff procedures since it will probably come to that.”

Mayor Betty J. Ainsworth said in a telephone interview Friday that the council is “reviewing (Jue’s) recommendations and considering the measures we will have to take to make up the lost revenues.”