COT Proposed Layoffs

Yes I am genuine, yes I am one of the 100 City of Tampa employees slated to be laid off within the next 6 - 9 months. What happened today actually came as no surprise to myself or many others within my division. We have been expecting this for the past year. Yes, even before there was any mention of property tax cuts. Can anyone say "smokescreen"?

The meeting this morning was mandatory. The contradiction and uncertainty thick in the air. The Director of Public Works made it known that the City of Tampa would be taking bids from private companies in order to save money for said city. He made statements to the fact that this privatization would happen only if a prospective company could prove it would be able to provide the same level of quality service as provided by current city employees. He even went so far as to state that the probability of us just trading one uniform for another was high. What a joke!! Do they really think any of us will continue to do the same job for half the pay? We all know that private companies can do the job for less money. As for providing the same level of quality? What a pipe dream!!

The Director made statements that led us to believe we might be able to remain with the city by working in other departments. A direct contradiction to what was said by Mayor Iorio. Also a contradiction considering the fact that a hiring freeze has been in effect since April and people were laid off in June.

The Director stated that a contract/private company would have to prove they can provide quality service on a scale equal to that of existing city employees. The Mayor stated that contract/private companies WOULD be awarded contracts (of course to the lowest bidder) in order to save a whole $355,000 per year. Whoop-de-doo!! A savings of just a little over $1 million over the course of this 3 year plan she has devised. Looking at the big picture this amounts to chump change.

Of the 53 ideas and suggestions made to the Mayor's Task Force in an effort to trim the budget, only the top 16 will be put into effect. Alleged savings, approximately $6 - 12 million. How much of this will end up in Mayor Iorio's pocket? We all know she refused to defer the $15,000 per year raise she gave herself in order to help trim the budget in June. Not that such a paltry amount would have made a difference, it was the principal. If I couldn't live on $135,000 per year I would have to take a long, hard look at myself. Hey, Mayor Iorio try living on the $25,000 per year you're paying me and then we'll talk.

We can only speculate that if this information hadn't been leaked to the media, we probably would have received only a 3 month notice of the layoffs, if that. The Mayor and her Task Force were backed into a corner and had no choice but to let the public and city employees in on their little secret. That's okay, just gives me more time to find employment outside the city.

At any rate, this time next year when you decide to visit Ybor City or attend a concert or hockey game downtown and you choose to park in a city garage - be very, very careful. The very security who should be there to protect you will probably be trying to figure out a way to either break in to your car or rob you since they'll only be making a little above minimum wage and could care less about your personal safety. So much for providing the same level of quality service, huh?
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COT Proposed Layoffs

Yes I am one of the 100 City of Tampa employees who is facing the prospect of being laid off within the next 6 - 9 months. If anyone has any questions or comments about my opinion of this or what was said in the mandatory meeting I attended this morning, feel free to ask.