Boston Mayor Proposes One-Year Salary Freeze For City Workers

January 14, 2009 9:17 a.m. EST

Boston, MA (AHN) - Dipping revenues have caused Boston City Mayor Thomas Menino to propose a one-year wage hike freeze for city employees. If the teachers, police officers and other Boston public officials will not agree, he warned of service cuts or massive lay-offs.

The proposal is expected to save the city coffers $60 million, which would cut by almost 50 percent Boston's expected budget deficit.

Menino admitted in a speech before city officials, "I know this will be hard on working families but the way I see it, a one-year wage freeze beats core service reductions and painful, painful layoffs."

Boston's teachers and police officers are slated to receive a 3.5 percent wage increase in 2010 to offset inflation, while the city's firefighters do not have a new contract yet. No comment has been made by the city's union officials on Menino's proposal.