Patterson trims hours to save money

The Patterson city government is trimming four hours a week off the schedules of nonessential employees, hoping to make up for some of the revenue lost to COVID-19 restrictions.
Patterson City Hall will continue to be closed to the public after noon on weekdays. Beginning May 15, employees other than those who work with the Police Department, the natural gas system or the water plant will go home at noon Fridays.
The move was announced at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, conducted by live-stream and teleconferencing.
“We’re trying to be proactive,” Mayor Rodney Grogan said.
Local governments across the region rely heavily on sales tax revenue. The restrictions placed on businesses, including the outright closure of enterprises such as barber and beauty shops and gyms, will have an impact on government income.
The May 15 date coincides with the end of the current stay at home order by Gov. John Bel Edwards and the day when state government hopes to move into Phase One of the Trump administration’s Make America Open Again guidelines. Whether Louisiana enters Phase One, a limited lifting of some COVID-19 restrictions, depends on whether the state has demonstrated two straight weeks of improvement in the number of infections, hospitalizations and deaths.
Grogan said the four-hour reduction resulted from consultations with Accountant Reginald Weary and other department heads.
Employees deemed to be providing essential services, including police and utility workers, will work their full shifts.
“But I’m asking that they keep the overtime down,” Grogan said. “The overtime is killing us when it comes down to throwing us off the budget because if someone is sick we have to pay the sick pay as well as overtime for the other workers.”
Also May 15, Patterson city employees will be ordered to wear masks when dealing with the public. Grogan said the order doesn’t apply to the public at large, but he urged people to follow public health guidelines by wearing masks in public.
Also Tuesday, Grogan said Patterson’s Census 2020 response rate so far is 39%.
He has urged residents to take part in the Census as a way to make sure the city government is in line for any government assistance to which it may be entitled.