ELKHART – What a difference the new year makes.
Late last year, Elkhart’s mayor planned on implementing furlough days for all city employees, forcing them to take some unpaid days off, to help balance the 2013 budget.
Now, Mayor Dick Moore says not only is that not necessary, but the city may even be hiring.
Under the original proposal, Elkhart firefighters and police officers would have been required to take three furlough days, all other city employees five.
But that all changed after department heads tightened budgets. They saved money.
Now, Moore is asking the City Council for $125,000 to fund two public safety positions.
“Now that we have found the savings that we did, I want to go ahead and hire another firefighter and another police officer to bring those two departments up to full staff,” said Moore.
Moore says there are still five other city positions open, but plans to fill those are on hold for now.
