Furlough days starting to impact city employees

The Lynchburg Museum and Point of Honor will both be closed Monday due to the city furlough.

FURLOUGH DATES
-Lynchburg Museum
Closed on Monday
-Point of Honor
Closed on Monday
-Lynchburg Public Library (main branch)
Closed April 11 (from 1 p.m. on)
Closed April 13 (all day)
-Lynchburg Public Library (downtown branch)
Closed April 10 (from 12:30 p.m. on)
Closed April 13 (all day)
Closed May 22 (all day)

The two sightseeing spots, which together make up the museum system, are opting to take mandated furlough days early in order to avoid closing during the busier spring season.

All city employees are required to take 2½ furlough days before the end of the fiscal year to help close a multi-million budget gap.

For most, the unpaid leave will fall around the Easter and Memorial Day holidays. A few departments, such as the police and museum, have permission to adopt their own schedules.

Monday will be the final furlough day for the museum and historic Point of Honor house. The facilities used 1½ days during the unusually heavy snow-storm earlier this month.

Museum Director Doug Harvey said the department chose to plow through the furlough requirement as quickly as possible to avoid losing hours in the spring.

“We know there are going to be more visitors out and about when the weather warms up,” he said, adding they’ve also booked multiple school field trips for those months.

The alternate schedule will not affect how the lost wages are removed from employee paychecks. The city is dispersing the cut evenly over eight pay periods to spread out the impact.

City employees will see each paycheck between March 26 and July 2 reduced by 3 percent. For the entire year, the furlough represents a 1 percent loss of salary for all staff.

Lynchburg’s public libraries also are adopting a slightly altered furlough calendar.

The main library used its first day during the snowstorm. Offi-cials plan to take the remaining time on Saturday, April 11, and Monday, April 13.

Library Director Lynn Dodge said they felt it was preferable to take the furlough on consecutive operating days to minimize both the confusion for customers and the scheduling complications for staff.

The downtown library branch will follow the normal city schedule and close April 10, April 13 and May 22. Dodge said the downtown branch’s location inside City Hall and Monday-Friday operating hours made it easier to conform to the general schedule there.

No fines will be levied against overdue books on furlough days. Library customers will still be able to return materials using the main branch’s book drop.

Both Dodge and Harvey said they felt their staffs were dealing with the furlough order well.

“I think everybody understands it’s the state of the world right now,” Harvey said, referring to the city’s budget struggles. The furlough is expected to save the city around $415,000 in personnel costs.