Atlanta police and fire rescue officials tried to reassure the estimated 700,000 people who live and work in the city that budget cuts will have little impact on services.

"The work has to continue to be done," Atlanta police Deputy Chief George Turner said. "We know that there will be some (paperwork) delays. We just hope that it won't be noticeable to the public."

On Friday, the second day city layoffs were handed out to help ease a $140 million shortfall, Atlanta's police and fire departments were largely spared, while most other city departments were not.

It appears that no police officers or firefighters will join the 441 city workers who are losing their jobs.

Most of the cuts to the police and fire departments will be office staff, including 26 part-time office assistants for the police and four administrative workers in the fire department.

"We're definitely happy that we're not losing any sworn personnel," Turner said. "Clearly, with the kind of [budget] numbers we were talking about, anything and everything was being considered."

Other departments have not been as fortunate. The hardest hit of them all, Public Works, stands to lose 215 positions — 122 of them filled.

That means the city would lose five of its seven sidewalk-construction crews; bridge inspections would be done once every two years instead of annually; and street repairs will decline from 10 a day to five. Recycling and yard-trimming pickups also could be cut back from once a week to twice a month.

Mayor Shirley Franklin's proposed $583.9 million budget lays off 441 city workers, leaves 347 positions unfilled, raises some fees and proposes a property tax increase to make up for the projected shortfall.

Many of the employees laid off received two weeks' pay and are being offered counseling services.

Thjuanda Denham, 35, has been through this before.

A truck driver with the Public Works department, Denham got laid off in June 1996. At the time, she had a daughter, who was seriously ill with heart and kidney disease, she said. Her daughter has since died.

"I was devastated because I needed my benefits for her," Denham said. "I cried a whole lot."

Two weeks later, Denham was hired back.

Now Denham is back in the same position, waiting to hear whether she will again lose her job. She didn't get the word Friday, so she expects to know by next week. "It's truly been hard — very difficult," Denham said. "Because it happened to me before, I am very afraid. I am."

Public safety is the top priority for Franklin, she says, but fire officials initially thought they would not be able to hire 21 recruits currently in the city's fire rescue academy. Friday it was announced that a slew of retirements and others that are anticipated might allow the recruits to become firefighters, Capt. Bill May said.

"It really turned out to be a good outcome to a potentially bad situation," May said.

Meanwhile, the Fulton County Taxpayers Association is circulating a petition urging council members to oppose the tax increase. The group does not buy the mayor's argument that the city's only other choice is to let go more than 200 police officers, 90 firefighters and close six fire stations.

"This is not a choice," the association's executive director, Barbara Payne, wrote in an e-mail. "It's an ultimatum."

Some council members have said they will look for other ways to cut the budget rather than raise property taxes.

Police and fire union representatives have expressed concerns that the layoffs will make it tougher to do their jobs.

Police Sgt. Scott Kreher, president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, Local 623, has said he fears officers will be asked handle some of the duties performed by the laid-off office workers.

Turner, the deputy chief, said Friday that will not happen.

Fire Rescue Lt. Jim Daws, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 134, has said the mayor's plan to transfer 18 firefighters to the station at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport will put more work on the firefighters at the city's other stations.

Public Works employee Alicia Robinson said the hardest part is "just waiting for them to tell us who was on the list."

She said that two of her co-workers have already been laid off. They were relatively new hires and didn't have as much seniority as other employees.

"They were good workers. It was hard to see them go," said Robinson, a 12-year employee. "They took it well, but you can tell there's some sadness."

Staff Researcher Nisa Asokan contributed to this report.