City cuts 109 jailers amid budget crunch

Atlanta officials let go 109 Corrections Department workers Wednesday as part of the city’s budget-balancing plan.

The layoffs are part of a reorganization to cut spending at the Atlanta jail by Mayor Shirley Franklin and her staff.

The department’s budget for the fiscal year that began Wednesday is about $19.7 million, a roughly 50 percent decrease from the prior budget of $38.5 million.

Longtime Corrections Department employee Ellis Williams, a union leader who said he was demoted Wednesday from sergeant to officer, criticized the job cuts.

“The employees didn’t have anything to do with spending,” Williams told City Council members Wednesday. “Employees didn’t have anything to do with mismanagement. Employees should not suffer.”

City officials said they had few options, as the recession has severely reduced revenues. The council voted 8-7 Monday to raise property taxes to cover a $56 million budget gap.

The city is planning a job fair Tuesday for the former workers.

“They were great employees,” said Corrections Chief Frank Sizer. “I hated to lose them, but it was a necessary action.”

City leaders have debated jail operations and the need for a detention center in the wake of the city’s financial problems.

In March, Atlanta auditors released a report that found the Corrections Department was about $4 million over budget for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2008.

The jail had 521 inmates Wednesday, less than half of the approximately 1,200 inmates it housed a year ago.

Many of those occupants were Fulton County inmates the city was paid to guard. Those inmates were returned last month to Fulton, Sizer said.

Sizer said the 240 remaining workers will be enough to safely guard the inmates.