Hiring Freeze

As city leaders begin work on the budget process amid a bleak economic situation, two of its aldermen are pushing for a hiring freeze across Annapolis government. David H. Cordle Sr. and Frederick M. Paone, the city's Republican aldermen, introduced a resolution calling for a hiring freeze at least week's meeting and also requested a report on the city's contractual employees. "What we're doing right now is expanding city government," Cordle said. "The mayor's hired a number of people, and she's trying to paint this rosy picture.

While hundreds of thousands of federal workers brace for unpaid furloughs starting next month, Uncle Sam is still looking to hire. In one week alone this month, nearly 2,200 job listings available to the public were posted on USAJobs.gov, the federal government's recruiting site. Add in new postings open only to current or former federal workers , including those laid off, and the number of new openings jumps to more than 4,600. "One thing for sure about hiring freezes: They always begin to melt as soon as they are put into place," said Don Kettl, dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy at College Park.

Seeking to head off possible layoffs, Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. ** Schmoke said today that he is imposing an immediate hiring freeze for all city workers except for police officers and teachers.The freeze is expected to last until the end of the current fiscal year next June 30, the mayor said.Mr. Schmoke said at his weekly press briefing that the freeze was necessary because of projections that money flowing to city government from income and property taxes would grow only by a paltry 1 percent July 1, 1995.

Miracyle Thompson, a pregnant Baltimore County mother of two little boys who have sickle cell disease, was skipping meals and battling with angry doctors over unpaid bills. Her husband's sales job wasn't bringing in enough money to support the growing family. Seeking help, she applied in February for state food and medical assistance. Federal law requires that those emergency benefits be approved within 30 days. A month ticked by, and then a letter from the state Department of Human Resources arrived: "An agency delay has occurred beyond our control."

Anne Arundel schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell froze hiring yesterday for about 50 unfilled nonclassroom jobs after County Executive John R. Leopold proposed funding far less than the school district had requested. The positions include business managers, custodians, clerks and technology staff. The savings from leaving the jobs open was not immediately clear. The $1.44 billion fiscal 2008 budget that Leopold unveiled May 1 included $812 million for public schools. That represented an 8 percent increase from last year, not the 17 percent rise Maxwell had sought.

Seeking to avoid layoffs, Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has imposed an immediate hiring freeze for all city workers except police officers and teachers.The freeze is expected to last until the end of the current fiscal year on June 30.Mr. Schmoke said at his weekly news briefing yesterday that the freeze was necessary because of projections that revenues from income and property taxes would grow by only 1 percent as of July 1, 1995."I am ordering a complete personnel hiring freeze for all departments, excluding the hiring of police and teachers as appropriate to meet enrollment needs.

A hiring freeze, in effect since last November, is hindering Anne Arundel officials from moving to replace the county's retiring supervisors of physical education and athletics.Paul Rusko and Jean Boyd both have announced their retirements, effective June 30."It's unfortunate that Mr. Rusko and Mrs. Boyd have decided to retire at the same time, at the end of this month," said Dr. Dennis Younger, coordinator of curriculum for Anne Arundel County. "Because of our hiring freeze, we have not been able to advertise to fill their positions.

A hiring freeze on thousands of vacant state jobs has thawed a tad with Board of Public Works' approval of a handful of new positions for a farmland preservation program.Gov. William Donald Schaefer imposed the freeze in late August when he announced that the state was facing a $150 million shortfall in revenues. Since then, the projected shortfall has risen to $180 million by Schaefer administration estimates and as much as $322 under estimates released this week by legislative budget experts.

Carroll commissioners have hired two auditors to scrutinize the operations of county departments.The Office of Performance Auditing now has four employees, office administrator Timothy D. Hartman said.Both positions, which were filled this fall, had been vacant for about two years because of a county hiring freeze, he said.The commissioners decided to lift the freeze so the auditors could be hired "to ease pressure on the existing staff," said Commissioner Elmer C. Lippy.The county audits itself continually, Mr. Lippy said.

Mayor Earl A. J. "Tim" Warehime Jr. seemed puzzled by the recent departure of two-thirds of his town's police force.It wasn't that Officers Michael Bunn and Francis Reda left the force. Rather, it was where they ended up finding new jobs.Bunn, a four-year veteran, and Reda, on the job about four months, are the two newest road deputies for the Carroll County Sheriff's Department, a department that, like all other county agencies, has been under a 15-month hiring freeze."I thought they were supposed tohave a hiring freeze over there," Warehime said during Tuesday night's Town Council meeting.

Annapolis Mayor Ellen O. Moyer, with the support of all eight aldermen on the city council, has introduced a resolution that would condemn the lease for Market House at City Dock, allowing the city to use eminent domain to take back control of the nearly vacant property that is being managed by a private company. The city has been embroiled since 2007 in a legal battle with Market House Ventures Inc., the private company that manages the property, over a faulty cooling and heating system.

As city leaders begin work on the budget process amid a bleak economic situation, two of its aldermen are pushing for a hiring freeze across Annapolis government. David H. Cordle Sr. and Frederick M. Paone, the city's Republican aldermen, introduced a resolution calling for a hiring freeze at least week's meeting and also requested a report on the city's contractual employees. "What we're doing right now is expanding city government," Cordle said. "The mayor's hired a number of people, and she's trying to paint this rosy picture.

Baltimore is slashing police and fire overtime and extending a hiring freeze to grapple with a $36.5 million shortfall brought on by declining revenues and a projected spike in public safety costs, city officials told The Baltimore Sun yesterday. The initial round of cuts should be enough to keep Baltimore's budget balanced - provided the economy doesn't get any worse, city officials said. But with global financial markets in disarray and the state considering reductions in aid to local governments to solve its own budget problems, more reductions could be on the way. "My hope is that this does not take away from the momentum we are building," Mayor Sheila Dixon said yesterday.

Accepting needed cash but then not using it could be considered rude, but that is what Maryland officials did with $350,000 Howard County provided to help staff the state-run social services office in Columbia. The county government contributes more than $400,000 annually to help the local Social Services office hire clerks and support staff, according to county budget officials. But because of the combined effects of high turnover and a partial state hiring freeze in place since 2001, a portion of the local aid remains unused while the county's poor wait for service.

Pia Jordan wore a red suit and a pleasant smile as she directed a small crew from Howard County's in-house cable TV studio. But Jordan, an 18-year studio veteran, is suddenly looking for a new job. She and five other full-time staffers learned last week that they will be laid off by July. "I don't think it has hit me yet," said Jordan, who was on assignment yesterday at county election headquarters. She described herself as being "in mourning." Jordan is among the recent casualties of local governments, which have been bracing against the slumping real-estate market, wilting state aid and shrinking revenue from income taxes by imposing hiring freezes and other personnel cuts.

Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold imposed a hiring freeze yesterday, in hopes of offsetting millions of dollars in cuts to real estate tax revenues and anticipated state aid. The freeze, which went into effect immediately, does not apply to emergency personnel. In light of looming financial problems, Leopold said, "I thought it prudent to take this step in an effort to reduce spending and secure savings." The county government has 4,026 filled employee positions and 761 contractual or temporary workers, county spokeswoman Marina Cooper said.

Police investigators may have to be reassigned to street duty to fill shifts left vacant by a hiring freeze imposed last week by County Executive Robert R. Neall.The hiring freeze and Neall's order to department heads to submit no-growth budgets next year could also place in limbo those recruits being trained at the county's police academy.Twenty-four of the 48 recruits are in the academy and are scheduled to graduate in March. Another class of 24 is slated to begin in April and finish in October.

Maryland's Anatomy Board says hundreds of human bodies donated to science this year may go straight to a crematorium instead of to medical schools if the board can't get an exemption from the state's month-old hiring freeze.The freeze, imposed by Gov. William Donald Schaefer Aug. 31 to cope with what was then a projected $150 million budget shortfall, has prevented the board from replacing an office secretary who resigned last month, and the board's embalmer, who had a heart attack two weeks ago.That has left the board's work in the hands of just one man, its administrator, Ronald S. Wade.

Anne Arundel schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell froze hiring yesterday for about 50 unfilled nonclassroom jobs after County Executive John R. Leopold proposed funding far less than the school district had requested. The positions include business managers, custodians, clerks and technology staff. The savings from leaving the jobs open was not immediately clear. The $1.44 billion fiscal 2008 budget that Leopold unveiled May 1 included $812 million for public schools. That represented an 8 percent increase from last year, not the 17 percent rise Maxwell had sought.

Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold, stepping up his cost-saving efforts, has imposed a temporary hiring freeze on most county departments and called on agency directors to set efficiency goals. Leopold announced plans Wednesday for a hiring stoppage - except for police, fire service and other public safety personnel - that would last until at least June 30, the end of the current fiscal year. County officials confirmed that about 200 current positions will be held open, but they were unable to estimate the potential savings or which departments would be most affected.