Contributed by the City of Watsonville:
The City of Watsonville announced Monday that City facilities will be closed starting Dec. 24 and will reopen Jan. 7, 2013 due to the holiday season and budget reductions.
In the last four years, most employees have forgone ten percent of pay in exchange for working fewer hours per week and having additional closure days during the holiday season. This was necessary to balance the budget as the city continues to experience declining revenues in this down economy.
Essential services such as police, fire, building inspections, airport, water turn-on and garbage collection will not be affected by this closure.
In 2011, city employees agreed to pay concessions for Fiscal Years 2011-2013 which helped avoid major layoffs and assisted the city in dealing with a $1.9 million General Fund deficit. Reducing services during this holiday period was an important part of providing sufficient savings to offset the deficit.
The General Fund is where most services are funded (police, fire, parks & community services, code enforcement, building and community development, public works, finance and administration).
Call 831-471-1151 for water turn-on or water-related emergency service requests. Dial 911 for health and safety emergencies. For building inspection requests and code enforcement complaints, call and leave a message on the Community Development Department inspection request line 831-768-3060.
For more information regarding the holiday closure visit the city website at www.cityofwatsonville.org.
