MichiganRadio

City Workers Await "Historic" Layoff Announcement In Grand Rapids GRAND RAPIDS, MI (Michigan Radio) - The city manager in Grand Rapids will unveil a major budget overhaul tomorrow. Up to 150 city employees may lose their jobs.

City manager Greg Sundstrom says it will be among the biggest layoff announcements in the city's history. And it won't be easy.

"In previous staff reductions, most of the positions eliminated were vacant," he says. "In this case, nearly every one of those positions is filled. We will be affecting dozens of persons' lives at this point."

Sundstrom says as of a few months ago, the city had a $21 million budget deficit for next year. He says that deficit has been growing.

He'll give the city commission his plan for how to fill that deficit tomorrow.

Sundstrom says that plan will not include any tax increases. But going forward, he says citizens may want to consider a tax increase if they don't want to see a reduction in city services.

Contact Dustin Dwyer at dtdwyer@umich.edu.

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