Tuesday, November 01, 2011

County Exec Proposes Closing Parks & Other Facilities Plus Eliminating Jobs

Executive Charlie A. Dooley on Monday presented a budget to the County Council that calls for eliminating 175 jobs, closing 20 parks and other facilities, and increasing fees for construction permits.

Many of the positions targeted for elimination are currently vacant, but funding for them would be eliminated. County officials said the budget would require some layoffs but couldn't estimate how many.

Among the parks recommended to be closed are Lone Elk in West County, George Winter in South County, Fort Bellefontaine in North County and all three county-operated swimming pools. Also proposed for shutdown would be the St. Vincent Community Center in North County.

Under Dooley's plan, some county residents would get a taste of life in the city of St. Louis during winter storms: The county would not plow subdivision streets in unincorporated areas when it snows 2 inches or less, a move projected to save $277,000 in overtime, fuel and salt.

In a letter distributed late Monday afternoon to the council, Dooley stated that, altogether, the cuts would save the county $10 million.

He said declining tax revenue and rising prices forced the slashing.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_44a771df-b9ed-507e-8b49-7bf8ec381d85.html#ixzz1cU8nsryp

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:19 PM

    Thanks Charlie.
    You should start by getting rid of Gary Earls. He got you into this mess. Bad advice.
    Charlies balloon bursts.

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  2. Anonymous5:13 PM

    People named Dooley and Temporiti should be at the top of the layoff list, keep people that actually do something worthwhile.

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  3. Anonymous10:19 PM

    We need full scale consolidation in St. Louis County/City and get rid of all these duplicating layers of TAKERS/Politicians and better utilize the tax base in place. Cut expenses.

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  4. Anonymous2:00 PM

    I'd like to know why "unincorporated" areas are being targeted????? We pay taxes just like everyone else!

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  5. Anonymous2:03 PM

    We already don't have street lights in the unincorporated areas.............now we will have snow and ice piling up.........thanks Charlie, bet your street is bright and will be snow-less!

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  6. Anonymous2:32 PM

    Gee thanks Charlie, I'll remember your logic about cutting the snowplowing and salting...hope you can run my errands when I can't get up a subdivision hills!

    How about a few street lights in dark subdivisions that invite crimes......any money for that??

    Actually I already feel like I live in the city....my neighbor's trash is so inviting the squirrels eat it on my privacy fence, and then drop bones and other things in my yard where my pets find them....very threatening to their health and well-being.

    Clean up and take care of our county, like it used to be - that is what you were hired to do.

    Do you wish to be in the unemployment line?

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  7. Anonymous4:53 PM

    Would all of these cuts and layoffs be necessary if the county hadn’t wasted millions on trash districts? They’ve had to defend the program in court, appeal the decisions that went against them time and again, the payout to the haulers, and the prosecution of the criminals that didn’t buy trash service from the designated haulers.

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