Yeah! tell this to my husband!

DallasNews.com | Dallas-Fort Worth | Politics: Local:

"City moves carefully toward hiring thaw
If economy's OK, Benavides hopes to fill hundreds of vacant jobs

08:49 PM CDT on Wednesday, October 1, 2003
By GROMER JEFFERS JR. / The Dallas Morning News
Wanted: Skilled professionals to work for city of Dallas. Jobs come with modest salary. Don't expect many pay raises.
Barring bad news on the economic front, the city of Dallas will soon end its 18-month hiring freeze, so the help wanted ads will soon be going out.
'Hopefully we will be adding people very soon,' City Manager Ted Benavides said. 'We've got plenty of work to do.'
The hiring freeze was scheduled to end Wednesday, the start of the city's fiscal year.
But Mr. Benavides wants to review sales tax revenue figures and other economic data before shopping for more workers to join the city's 13,000 employees.
'If we get some good numbers, we may start hiring in a couple of weeks,' Mr. Benavides said.
He wants to fill the hundreds of jobs that have been left vacant because of budget cuts and gloomy economic conditions.
Some workers also bolted for more lucrative, private-sector jobs.
The problem in Dallas reflects a national trend. Cities have had to do more with less, cutting some nonessential jobs that prove to be meaningful to taxpayers. In Dallas, those workers who have stayed haven't had raises in years and are being asked to pay more for benefits such as insurance.
'It's very common in American cities today to see layoffs and cuts in services,' said Michael Reinemer, a spokesman for the National League of Cities. 'Some cities are cutting library hours, and others are laying off police officers and firefighters.'
Mr. Reinemer said"