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Treasurer worried how job cuts will affect Petersburg residents

Posted at 6:36 PM, May 18, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-18 18:45:33-04

PETERSBURG, Va. -- Petersburg City Treasurer Kevin Brown is fired up about the proposal to cut two employees from his department.

He said he is already down three employees, and the management group running the city says cuts must be made to the upcoming budget, but Brown is adamant he can’t suffer any more cuts.

"Either you're going to help us, help the city or you're just going to help the city to fail,” Brown said. “It's one or the other.”

The Robert Bobb Group was hired to handle Petersburg's financial crisis and is preparing the upcoming budget.

Petersburg City Treasurer Kevin Brown

"These were two positions that were added by the City and funded but the City in an attempt to increase collections," said Interim City Manager Tom Tyrrell. "The treasurer hired an outside resource to our source collections and in spite of it all our collections really haven't increased significantly."

"We felt like that was a duplicate resource and so we're proposing to reduce those two positions because the city funds them," Tyrrell added.

People wait in line to pay bills at Petersburg City Hall.

People waited in a long line Thursday to pay utility, personal property and real estate bills. Many were concerned that losing more positions would slow down processing even more.

"I don't understand how the City is going to cut people from our office and cut service to the citizens and think that that's going to be the right way to go for the City of Petersburg,” Brown said.

Brown will appear before City Council on June 6 to try to save those two positions.

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