Lorain city Mayor Chase Ritenauer is set to propose two ordnances tonight at the Lorain city council meeting to help offset a looming budget crisis.
The proposals include two weeks unpaid furlough for him and his staff, along with other elected officials, and reducing the amount of municipal income tax credit to 50 percent in 2016.
In 2017, the reciprocity credit would raise to 75 percent and in 2018, the mayor expects it to be back at 100 percent.
At this point, there will be no forced set retirement age for police or firefighters and no layoffs expected, Ritenauer said. The plans were proposed earlier and met with hostility from the police and fire unions and chiefs.
The balanced budget is due by March 31 and needs to be approved by eight out of 11 council members.
City council members and the mayor both blame the closure of steel companies as well as cuts to local government funding for the shortfall.
Watch the video below to see a snippet of what happened in the meeting from Wednesday, March 23.
Budget crisis: Lorain meeting to discuss setting firefighter/police retirement age, possible layoffs
Posted by Homa Bash on Wednesday, March 23, 2016
