Excerpts from a Southtown Star article on the possible layoffs coming to Matteson:

The police and firefighter unions in Matteson officially have responded to the village administration’s request to negotiate over recently announced plans to lay off half of the police force and a quarter of the firefighter-paramedics by Feb. 20.

The unions’ contracts with the village give them the “ability for critical input,” village administrator Brian Mitchell said last week in citing Matteson’s $8 million budget deficit as the reason for the proposed layoffs. He said the village plans to save $1.5 million by laying off 13 police officers and $1.2 million by laying off eight firefighter-paramedics.

Ray Violetto, the Metropolitan Alliance of Police representative for the Matteson officers, said the union responded to the village Friday, while Scott Gilliam, president of the Associated Firefighters of Matteson, said it responded Monday. Gilliam said the firefighters’ union wants more information about the village’s financial situation in advance of any meeting. Violetto said he wasn’t authorized to elaborate on his union’s strategy but hoped village officials would get back to the unions soon on the next steps.

The village’s Tuesday deadline for the unions to respond followed Monday night’s village board meeting where many in a large crowd questioned the need for the layoffs and urged trustees to find areas of the budget other than public safety to make cuts. The planned layoffs were not on the meeting agenda.

… a major unanswered question is “why are firefighters and police the first to be cut?” No one in the administration has explained what other cutbacks, if any, are planned.

Gilliam and Violetto said the public works department hired Trustee Bridget Dancy’s husband two weeks ago. A call seeking comment from that department was directed back to Mitchell’s office.

Gilliam said he didn’t understand the village’s logic in cutting its first responders because it “goes against common sense.”

“If these layoffs take place, there will be a snowball effect,” said Violetto, who has more than 28 years of law enforcement experience. “You’re going to have slower response times and officer fatigue because they’ll be doing a lot more work than they had in the past.”

Village officials sought voter approval Nov. 4 for home-rule authority, which would give them more taxing powers, such as adopting a local sales tax, to raise revenue. They warned that defeat of home rule would force them to make layoffs, including in public safety, but voters rejected the change by a vote of 3,322 to 3,121.

Matteson’s failed attempts in recent years to save Lincoln Mall, which closed this month, and the steadily declining sales tax revenue from the mall, also contributed to the rising budget shortfall.

thanks Dan

Tags: Associated Firefighters of Matteson, Brian Mitchell, firefighter layoffs, Matteson Fire Department, Matteson Firefighters Union President Scott Gilliam, Matteson looking at layoffs, Matteson Police Union President Robert Wilson, Metropolitan Alliance of Police