While the economy has seen some improvement over the last few months, cutbacks are still happening across DeKalb.

One local example is the layoff of three DeKalb firefighters this past summer.

“The city encouraged all the unions [from the police, fire, and city management] to make wage concessions since our projected revenue was not going to cover our expenses in the upcoming fiscal year,” said City Manager Mark Biernacki.

The fire department union was the only one that could not come to an agreement and the firefighters were laid off as a result, Biernacki said.

“There were continued talks between city staff and the union to find some sort of concession,” said Fire Chief Bruce Harrison.

Ultimately an agreement was reached and the layoffs were called back, Harrison said.
Biernacki said the included concessions will save the city $350,000 over the next two years.

Mayor Kris Povlsen said cuts in salary were a big step in balancing the budget.

“Eighty-six percent of our budget is built around employee salaries and benefits,” Povlsen said. “There are only so many paper clips you can cut back on; sooner or later, you have to look elsewhere.”

The present hiring freeze means there are no plans to make capital purchases such as police cars or fire trucks. The main cutbacks were in employee salaries, he said.

Povlsen said the city has been cross-training employees so a person is qualified to do more than one job, and that community development has slowed because new homes are not being built with as much frequency.

Although these changes are occurring, citizens should not expect less from the city, he said.

“At this point in time, we are hopeful they won’t see any changes in services,” he said. “But, at some point, we may need to look at city services. You can’t have a hiring freeze, lay off staff and continue with the same services.“

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