Aware Brain

Private companies are laying off thousands of workers each day, which is a crisis for each fired employee. These high-profile layoffs are prominent news stories, especially when the number of people fired is large.

While this is happening, a more dangerous layoff story is going unnoticed. Hundreds of local government municipal employees are losing their jobs as cities and counties are desperately trying to balance their budgets. These stories are not as sensational news events, as the number of each firing is small. A dozen employees here, 20 there, or maybe even a handful of workers in a small town.

Each one of these firings is just as big of a personal disaster for the municipal employee and their family. What makes each one of thee firings worse is that they also have a greater impact on the all of the citizens in that community. each one of the fired city or county workers did a job that provided a community service. Firefighters, police officers, administrative clerks, zoning inspectors, occupational licensing, roan maintenance, utility departments, etc. are all services every resident in the jurisdiction counts on each day. Some of the services are visible and obvious, such as police and fire. Others may not be as apparent.

Let’s look at just one example, the restaurant inspector. The restaurant where you dine is inspected at some regular interval, to ensure that the food is prepared safely and according to certain standards. The inspector provides ongoing reminders and training for employees to do things like storing meat away from salad, cooking food to a certain temperature, or ensuring that the towels used to wipe down tables has the correct percentage of bleach.

A 2008 Occupational Health & Safety study found that restaurant workers had difficulty following safe food handling practices due to time constraints and inadequate training. More than half of all food borne illnesses were attributed to resaturants. the restaurant business has high employee turnover, so training may not be as frequent or complete as would be preferred. Regular visits from the municipal inspector helps keep the standards in check. As a city or county lays off workers, or combines jobs, the inspectors schedule can get strained. Maybe instead of vising each place monthly, it drops to bi-monthly, or quarterly. At some point this has a negative affect on safety. Food handling in a restaurant may not seem like a critical issue, but the 10 people who get food poisoning, or the 5o people who get salmonella, or the 75 people who get botulism will feel some direct consequence of the county layoff.

Multiply that times 3000+ counties nationwide, and by 15 – 20 departments in each municipality. The condition of jobsites can suffer if not inspected, infastructure such as roads, water pipes, and street signs can deteriorate faster, meaning that the cost saved will have to be more than made up for in future years.

In the meantime, the hundreds of ways that each person relies on municipal employees are each made less secure. Indirectly, some costs are passed along to residents as they have to be more self-reliant. This is not necessarily a bad thing, so long as people recognize their increased responsibility. Whether or not all of the services were actually needed or not is another debate. Regardless, some people who were relying on them anyway, will have to do without. there may be some fallout from that.

Another potential danger is that of the federal government having to come in and take over functions. A remote managing body, unconnected with the specific circumstances of the city, would presumably make less correct decisions from thousands of miles away.

“We don’t have enough money to provide the same level of service as we have in the past,” said city councilman Tom Cosgrove. - Lincoln  NE

Two of city’s four fire inspector were also laid off along with a code enforcement officer. – Vista CA

The latest losses to the Public Works roster follow two reductions announced late last month…..”It’s definitely going to affect our response time,” he said – Conneaut OH

Jones said Tuesday that residents should “absolutely” expect a decrease in other services, including public safety and transportation. - Mesa AZ

She said most of the workers at the adult health clinic where she works were laid off and she expressed concern about how this would affect the clinic, which provides care to uninsured residents. - Trenton NJ

Macomb County commissioners said Monday they have no choice but to begin laying off hundreds of employees and cut services to senior citizens, lower-income families and other residents - Macomb County MI

He said losing any state workers will mean a reduction of services for Maryland residents. – Maryland

…the school district that boasts these achievements is expected to take a significant hit from the state economic crisis, hurting its ability to continue providing the current level of services to students. – Santa Monica CA

It might be something as simple as longer lines at the DMV: California DMV to Close Offices First, Third Fridays of each Month – CA