By Muriel Kane – Raw Story
Economic hard times are causing many municipalities to look for ways to reduce their payrolls, but none has taken it as far as the town of Maywood, California.
On Monday night, the Maywood City Council voted unanimously to fire all 100 city employees and contract out most services, including record-keeping, street maintenance, and parks and recreation, to the neighboring town of Bell.
“We will become 100% a contracted city,” Maywood’s interim city manager stated.
Even the Maywood police department will be disbanded. Those services will be provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, since a proposal earlier this month to merge Mayfield’s police department with that of Bell was met with angry protests by Bell residents.
It was the police department that largely got Maywood into its current financial troubles. Last month, the town was informed by the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority that it would no longer be able to obtain liability insurance, largely as a result of excessive claims filed against the police.
According to the Los Angeles Times, “The [Insurance Authority’s] action is yet another blow for the predominantly Latino city of 45,000 residents densely packed into about 1.2 square miles in the heavily industrial southeast part of Los Angeles County. Officials estimate about half the city’s residents are illegal immigrants.”
Be the first to comment on "California town to lay off all city employees, disband police"