City Forces Furloughs, Coleman Delivers Ultimatum

10 TV: City Council voted Monday night to force some Columbus city employees to take five unpaid days off in the latest attempt to deal with a budget shortfall. The furloughs, which could affect as many as 3,000 workers, are designed to save enough money to bridge an estimated $14 million shortfall…

The city employs roughly 7800 workers after cutting 575 employees earlier this year. Public utilities workers, police officers and firefighters are exempt from the furloughs, which have been approved by one city-employee union but are part of negotiations with another.

"Everybody's going to share in time off so that you can maintain your job," Council President Mike Mentel said. "We're going to be saving the city millions of dollars so that we can try to stave off the crisis that we're in and keep our employees working for the city of Columbus."

Mayor Michael Coleman made a rare appearance at Monday night's City Council meeting to push for a one-half percent increase in the city's income tax. The increase, which would raise the tax from 2 to 2.5 percent, is slated for a special election in August. "The question before voters will be, 'What kind of a city do we want to live in?' " Coleman said. " A city that can prosper and grow and maintain the kind of lifestyle that we have, or drastically change (that lifestyle)?"

If voters reject the tax hike, officials have said that 200 police officers and 200 firefighters will lose their jobs next year. More recreation centers will be closed, and trash pickup might be done biweekly instead of weekly.