Waukesha Hiring Freeze now Extended to Police and Firefighters

Waukesha’s hiring freeze that has been in place since January 2008 is being extended to sworn police and fire department employees.

City Administrator Lori Luther told the Common Council on Tuesday that until the city receives state aid figures, the hiring freeze will be in place for sworn employees, which includes the police officers and firefighters. No new requests to fill vacancies left open by retirements or resignations will be approved.

The Waukesha Police Department is not anticipating any upcoming retirements, Police Chief Russell Jack said Wednesday. There will be a few vacancies from resignations.

The police department will continue to staff the shifts and provide the needed officers, Jack said. If there are shortages from upcoming vacancies, the police department will have to pay overtime to cover those shifts.

“We are still going to provide the police services.,” Jack said. “We are going to provide the minimum staffing levels even with we are short officers.”

The city could stand to lose $1.5 million in the 2012 budget but would only recover $300,000 through the governor’s budget repair bill.

The city will look at different options to reduce the budget and bring them forward to the Finance Committee and Common Council.