Commissioners lay off 13

Against strong objections from a union leader, Luzerne County commissioners unanimously voted Wednesday to lay off 13 workers.

Commissioners listed the layoff number by department but did not identify the workers, though most of the names were common knowledge in the courthouse.

Courthouse switchboard operator Rose Zondlo said she is on the furlough list. The county has an automated system that tells callers what number to push to reach various departments, but Zondlo said she handles calls from people who are confused about which department they need or who are unable to reach a person in the needed department.

“We have a lot of elderly callers and people who call crying because they don’t know what to do. I calm them down and send them to the right place,” Zondlo said.

Zondlo, who was paid $25,800, said she started as a full-time operator at the county in 1994. The county had three full-time operators before scaling back to one.

“The public is going to suffer,” Zondlo said. “I am so hurt after all this time working here. This is a kick in the gut.”

Assessor’s office clerk Angela Schnelly, who makes $19,500, is also on the list.

County Environmental/Recreation Chief Andy Gegaris is also losing his $61,800-a-year job. He verified others being furloughed, along with their salaries:

• Moon Lake Park: Director Clif Madrack, $42,900; foreman Paul Dietrich, $24,000; maintenance worker James Hunlock, $27,100; and clerk Mary Ann Konevich, $18,800.

• Environmental Special Projects: three environmental risk control technicians – Donna Rugletic, $32,100; Paul Shiber, $25,500; and John Ziminski, $24,500. The county listed four layoffs in this department, but Gegaris said there are only three employees.

A security worker paid $19,500 will also be laid off, but security workers say union seniority issues are still being reviewed to determine which employee will be impacted.

Dressed in fluorescent yellow shirts, representatives of the county’s American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union came to Wednesday’s meeting to protest the layoffs.

Union head Paula Schnelly said 33 AFSCME workers were laid off in 2004. Another 16 lost their jobs in 2008, and the union was assured that there would be no more.

Ten of the employees laid off in this round are from AFSCME, and commissioners are also exploring the possibility of privatizing the tax claim and security departments, which are both staffed primarily by the union’s workers.

“Enough is enough already. These are the people that provide services to this county, and we’re taking the hit repeatedly and repeatedly,” said Schnelly, the mother of the assessor’s office worker who is on the new furlough roster.

Schnelly said the furloughed workers did not cause the county’s fiscal problems and should not have to “pay the price.”

The latest layoff includes two 20-year employees and a 19-year employee, she told commissioners. The layoff of union workers will yield $345,000 in savings, including health insurance and longevity payments, she said.

“Is that going to save your budget deficit? I highly think it will not,” Schnelly said. “I just have one question to ask you: How do you sleep at night?”

Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla said taxpayers have demanded cuts to avoid a tax increase. She said she is disappointed that employees must lose their jobs “because of mismanagement and reckless spending.”

“I have lost many, many, many hours of sleep over the tough decisions I’ve had to make in the last two years to try and get this county straightened out,” Petrilla said.

Gegaris also spoke during the meeting, saying he and other furloughed workers had continued to work hard despite previous budget cuts, and they would have been willing to work only part of the year if it meant keeping their jobs.

Petrilla and Commissioner Thomas Cooney passed a 2010 budget on Dec. 30 that raises taxes 10 percent and reduces the salary portion of most department budgets by 6.7 percent, or about $6 million. The new spending plan has not been implemented because it may be amended by Feb. 15.

Petrilla and Cooney voted Wednesday to set Feb. 12 as the date to approve the amended budget. The proposed amendments will be available for public review beginning Jan. 29.