Yonkers school trustees vote to lay off 251

YONKERS - The Yonkers Board of Education has voted to lay off 251 staffers to balance its budget.

Wednesday's vote came in advance of the adoption of the school district's and city's combined budget, which by city charter must be adopted by June 1. The school layoffs take effect June 30, the end of the city's fiscal year.

The job cuts include 54 teaching assistants, 50 school aides, 50 bus monitors and at least 35 teachers.

CITY BUDGET: Spano proposes layoffs

SCHOOL BUDGET: Quezada cites big deficit

District officials cut the jobs because of a $45.3 million budget gap that had to be closed. Before the layoffs vote, school trustees defended their actions.

"Not one person here in public or in private has ever said that that was a good idea," board vice-president Judith Ramos Meier said.

Superintendent Edwin Quezada held out hope there could still be alternatives to the layoffs.

"I am the ultimate optimist and I firmly believe that together, working together with our elected officials, with our bargaining units, with our parents, with the trustees, we will find a solution, probably by the end of this month," Quezada said.

Yonkers' municipal, non-school workers also face layoffs. Mayor Mike Spano has proposed about 200 layoffs and the City Council is still deliberating on the budget.

In the case of both the school and municipal budgets, the deficits are primarily due to rising employee wages, benefits and health care.

Last week, the City Council adopted a resolution that gave city officials the power to break the state's 2 percent tax cap on municipalities. At the time of that vote, City Council officials stated the resolution was to give them the option to do so, but they were careful to note they had not decided to raise taxes beyond the tax cap.

On Thursday, Mayor Mike Spano said he wouldn't support breaking the state tax cap unless unions agree to wage or benefits concessions.

"I wouldn't entertain one without the other," Spano said.

Some union leaders have already ruled out concessions to balance the school and city budget.

"Stop thinking that you're going to do this on labor's back," said Louis Picani, the Teamsters Local 456 president at a City Council public hearing Tuesday. "It's not going to happen."

Picani warned that city residents would see a repeat of a 2010 budget crisis and layoffs that led to uncollected garbage on the streets.

Frank Marino, vice-president of the Yonkers Uniform Fire Officers Association, said laying off public workers to close deficits will lead to an unsafe, unsanitary and poorly educated city.

"Taking away services that people rely upon is wrong," Marino said at Tuesday's City Council budget hearing. "Blaming fairly negotiated contracts that included many concessions for financial mismanagement is wrong."

The City Council will hold another budget hearing on Monday at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

Twitter: @ErnieJourno

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