UPDATE
After the print edition went to press this week, the Kosciusko Board of Aldermen approved the furlough of two city employees:
Sharon Miller, the community service office who supervises litter pickup by inmates
Jose Martinez, a police officer trainee who had not yet been able to attend the police academy
Tourism Director Donna Holdiness had previously been furloughed
The board also terminated the employment of Michael Lee of the street department.
Following Tuesday night's furlough decisions, Mayor Jimmy Cockroft said he does not expect any further action on furloughs until after the city receives its next report of sales tax revenue.
Here is the original story explaining the financial circumstances the city cites in the need to consider furloughing staff:
As the city of Kosciusko expects sales tax revenues to plummet over the summer, Mayor Jimmy Cockroft and the Board of Aldermen held an Apr. 21 executive session to discuss potential layoffs, furloughs, and cuts in hours for some city personnel.
Aldermen were presented with a list of potential staff cutbacks that attempt to affect city departments equally, according to Cockroft.
The upcoming loss of sales tax revenue resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic business shutdowns — which some estimate could be as high as eight percent during the second quarter of this fiscal year — comes when Kosciusko sales tax revenues were already lagging behind last year by about $5,000.
The full extent of the revenue losses will not be felt by the city until summer because the revenues are not received until two months after they are collected. As a result, the sales tax revenue reductions will begin showing in the city finances in May, based on March sales, then June and July based on April and May sales.
Cockroft said he does not expect the shortfalls to be as significant as the 8% predicted loss statewide because the city business base does not include major retailers, which have been most negatively affected by the shutdown.
Still, sales tax revenue losses, which Cockroft predicts will be around six percent, will likely mean staff cutbacks.
In FY19, the city received $180,963.36 of March sales tax revenue in May, $193,643.85 of April sales tax revenue in June and $178,324.50 of May sales tax revenue in July.
If the mayor’s prediction of a 6% loss in sales tax revenue are correct, the city will have between $10,000 and $12,000 less coming in during May, June and July.
The most likely scenario of the resulting staff cutbacks, according to Cockroft, is to furlough identified employees, allowing them to collect unemployment while maintaining health insurance by either paying their employee contribution or through COBRA, dependent upon the when the furloughs occur and the regulations in effect at that time.
