BUCYRUS, OH (CRAWFORD COUNTY NOW)—As the Bucyrus City Council Finance Committee prepares to meet Thursday evening in the council chambers, Crawford County Now has confirmed that one union-represented waterworks employee has been laid off, effective February 7, 2025.
In response to a request for comment, Bucyrus Safety Service Director Tommy Starner wrote:
“The city does have to lay off a waterworks employee. The person that is being laid off has been with the city a short time. They have not done anything wrong on their part. The person being laid off’s last work day is February 7. This layoff was not taken lightly. I worked several different ways to see if we could possibly do something other than laying anyone off. The decision was made when we saw that the waterworks budget had a substantial deficit for us to work through. This will save the city approximately 80 thousand dollars a year. This number includes his wages and insurance. At this time, we are not expecting any other layoffs in the city. I would like to think the increases in wages did have a very small impact on this happening. I do believe we will get through this with the cuts we had to take.”
In spite of this layoff, the Finance Committee is grappling with the request for a significant pay raise across the board for all non-union city employees. Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Myers indicated at Tuesday’s regular council meeting that he intends to schedule a special hearing or town hall for citizens to be given the opportunity to provide their input on the issue of pay raises.
Crawford County Now will continue to cover this developing story.