Dwindling construction activity, coupled with deep state aid cuts, forced the Inver Grove Heights City Council to permanently lay off one building inspector this week and launch a raft of reductions. The city also is expected to soon cut one of two administrative positions at its community center.
Monday night, the City Council cut about $310,000 to offset the state aid cuts and the fallout from a sluggish economy, and it's poised to cut about $42,000 more two weeks from now.
The council agreed to eliminate some summer and part-time positions. Workers' hours are being reduced, and vacant positions won't be immediately filled for a full-time public works leader and an information systems network administrator, or for a part-time fire inspector, City Administrator Joe Lynch said.
Inver Grove Heights has lost nearly $519,000 in state funding through the Market Value Homestead Credit and had already made shifts to cover about a half million of that loss. But that still left $18,841 to cut.
The city also expects a potential drop of $275,000 in building-permit revenues, Lynch said, because developers are shelving projects during the downturn.
The city has three building inspectors plus a supervisor and a clerical worker. With less work, one inspector is being let go to save $65,100 a year, and clerical hours will be reduced. Paid engineering interns won't be hired.
"We just simply do not have the activity that we have had in past years, " Lynch said, listing halted projects:
• United Properties has already completed the infrastructure but will now delay putting up an 100,000-square-foot office building until it can find its first tenant.
