Salinas city leaders approve personnel freezes to save money

Salinas City leaders have approved a decision to eliminate and freeze positions to save money as part of the budget resolution.

Council members discussed the budget at its meeting Tuesday night.

The cuts would save the city millions of dollars, but the city manager said the changes would impact vacant positions only and there would be no layoffs.

The personnel changes include the following:

Salinas Police Department:
1. CSO position, stays vacant – savings: $92,000
2. Police services tech, stays vacant – savings: $86,000
3. Police services manager, replaced with management analyst – savings: $46,000
4. Two police sergeant positions temporarily on hold – savings: $516,000
5. New hire police officer positions, temporarily on hold – savings: $1,642,800
Salinas Fire Department:
1.) Eliminate – Battalion Chief- savings – $280,000
2.) Eliminate – Office Technician- savings – $95,000
3.) Hold two fire fighter positions- savings $344,470

There will also be personnel changes to other departments.