Mayor Mayo & City of Monroe Employees take Pay Reduction as Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Budget Control Measure

Tuesday, April 28, 2020 - 8:00pm
The COVID-19 pandemic and April 12, 2020 tornado are having a negative impact on our local economy. The City of Monroe is taking several actions to control its budget. Attached is an April 20 memo Mayor Jamie Mayo sent to City Department Heads, outlining several cost saving measures to immediately implement. 

One of the cost-saving measures is, effective May 1, all City employees will be temporarily furloughed one hour per week, with a corresponding reduction in pay. The Monroe Fire Department 24-hour work shift makes it difficult for them to do a one-hour furlough. Therefore, their reduction in pay will come from another pay area within the Fire Department budget. This is expected to save the City over $500,000 during the 2020-20201 Fiscal Year, which begins May 1, 2020 and ends April 30, 2021. The initial time frame for the furloughs is seven months but could be reduced or increased depending on future sales tax revenues. 

Since the Mayor’s salary is dictated by City ordinance, he will be donating back to the City one-hour’s pay per week. Mayor Mayo and city employees will take the one-hour furlough pay reduction in accordance with the Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Budget Control Measures. 

This will mark the second time in his tenure that Mayor Mayo has volunteered to take a salary reduction. In 2004, while running for re-election, Mayor Mayo pledged to not only give City employees a pay raise, he also vowed to not take the City Council approved salary increase for the Mayor for the entire 2004-2008 term. Mayo chose, instead, to donate $60,000 back to the City of Monroe budget over that four-year period.