It was a brutal first two weeks at City Hall this month, when 11 people got their walking papers and two others saw their paychecks whacked.

The cutbacks were part of City Manager Penny Culbreth-Graft’s effort to balance the budget because of slumping sales tax revenues.

Seven of those laid off remain on the payroll until Oct. 31, although they’re no longer working. The extra paychecks aren’t being called severance pay, but they’re seen as a concession to help these people transition to other jobs, city officials say, especially considering some made handsome salaries.

Like two guys in the information technology department, who were knocking down about $110,000 a year each, not including benefits.

“They were given no notice,” city spokeswoman Sue Skiffington-Blumberg said. “They were given normal courtesies of employment,” meaning the extra time on the payroll.

The others laid off had annual salaries and benefit packages worth $119,000, $102,000, $95,300, $62,888 and $41,400, so most weren’t low-level staffers.

In addition to those seven, several others took pay cuts or had to jockey for other city jobs at lower pay in a reorganization that melded nine departments into five.

Take Ron Cousar, director of internal support services. He had been making $166,953, which includes benefits, but after his job was axed, he replaced the retiring manager of recreation services. He now makes about $121,500 with benefits.

“It was a tough couple of weeks for everyone concerned, having to hand it out or on the receiving end,” Skiffington-Blumberg said.

Even she took a bite. Formerly director of public communications, Skiffington-Blumberg saw a $13,169 reduction from her $121,000 annual pay when her title switched to manager in the reorganization.

Likewise for Office of Emergency Management director Bret Waters.

Meanwhile, the news wasn’t all bad. Finance manager Terri Velasquez was given more responsibility and a new title, CFO, which came with an $18,240 raise.

None of those laid off will collect unused sick time pay, a perk reserved for retirees only.

Public works director Ron Mitchell planned to retire in January but agreed to move that up two months to accommodate the reorganization. He will get unused sick pay.

When the dust cleared, Culbreth-Graft had shaved 30 jobs from the 1,860-person payroll, or 1.6 percent, which will save about $2.6 million.

The departments affected: IT, five positions; city attorney and streets, four each; city engineering, three; city manager, traffic engineering and fire, two each; and public communications, police, forestry and land-use review, one each. In addition, the reorganization took out four other jobs.

“We hope we’re through the toughest part,” Skiffington-Blumberg said. “We hope not to have yearly cutbacks and these kinds of things.”

The city’s last bloodletting came in 2004 when then-City Manager Lorne Kramer laid off a dozen workers and eliminated 65 empty positions to close a budget gap.

Not taking a stand

The City Council-appointed Sustainable Funding Committee voted this week not to weigh in on measures on the November 4 ballot.

But the vote wasn’t unanimous. Opposing the motion were Terry Storm and Jan Doran. Doran is a member of the citizens group promoting El Paso County’s 1 percent sales tax measure.

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Contact the writer: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazettedev.gazette.com