Nine Auburn city employees have been laid off in an effort to cut costs.

Three of those positions are “temporarily deferred,” meaning the employees have been notified but a layoff has not yet taken place as of Monday, said Bob Richardson, city manager. Layoffs began earlier this month.

The terminated positions are engineering technician, IT analysis, Public Works construction inspector, administration assistant and two police officers.

The three positions that were temporarily differed are two maintenance workers and one dispatcher.

One part-time contract employee who is not a city employee was also laid off, Richardson said.

The eliminated positions will save the city $1.2 million annually. Currently, there is $8.9 million in the general fund budget Richardson said.

“Each department has been meeting for months — figuring out what is most cost-effective as possible,” Richardson said. “We have dramatically cut every operating department in the city, and after we made these cuts we had to sit down with each labor union to find ways to ultimately balance the budget.”

Mayor Mike Holmes commented the city is working to retain additional city employee positions.

“I am hopeful that we won’t have to do that (cut additional positions in the future)," Holmes said. "In the future we are looking at internal reorganization within our departments to keep jobs, and projects that would have normally gone ahead will be delayed until financial revenue will be increased."

Prior to this most recent round of layoffs, the city had reduced spending with 10 percent pay cuts for managers in September and October of 2008.

“Over the course of this year, the management team worked to cut cost in operating departments and in the end we learned that we needed an additional 10 percent cut in operating departments,” Richardson said.

Richardson said managers and staff have all shared the financial pain.

“The city (asked) all labor groups to determine the method for achieving those (cuts) and all management and mid-management staff volunteered to take 10 percent pay cuts,” Richardson said. “All other bargaining units received layoffs rather than opting for other cost-cutting measures.”

Labor units went into discussion in February of this year.

Richardson added that the city is still in negotiations with the fire union.

“We are working now to readjust their (fire) union … we are in the middle of negotiations,” Richardson said. No comment was made on possible future layoffs in the fire union.

Richardson indicated that the city is prepared to move forward with any scenario to address the upcoming budget.

“We anticipate starting the next fiscal year with a balanced budget, but we are waiting to see what the state does and we will see what changes need to be made and how to operate,” Richardson said. “We will walk into the next fiscal year, July 1, with a balanced budget.”

Will Wong, community development director, said that the city is additionally delaying the completion of city projects and the purchase of equipment for upcoming city projects.

Still, the city will continue to move forward with phase one of the Streetscape plan, Holmes said. The project will have nine phases with an estimated total cost of $20 million.

The first phase will restore the intersection of High Street and Lincoln Way in Downtown Auburn. Phase one of the project has an estimated cost of $2.1 million and will begin construction in July.

“We will get through phase one first and then work on phase two — we don’t know the ultimate cost of the 5- to 10-year project,” Holmes said.

Some question the expenditure on street renovations in the current economic climate.

“I think Streetscape is a bad idea — because they will not be able to afford hiring employees … I don’t want to point any fingers but I think the city is making mistakes on planning,” said Dan Sokol, 83, Auburn resident for 32 years.

Some community members are feeling the affects of the recession; they are not surprised that more layoffs are occurring.

“I feel really bad for the people losing their jobs … but probably the city has to do a lot to trim … but I’m sorry that it has to be people,” said Cheryle Kranich, 58, Auburn resident and owner of Tea Thyme Treasures on Sacramento Street in Auburn.