Another big job-loss wave looms: state and city workers

It was an easy choice. The two city-owned golf courses were already losing money before the pandemic, so Mayor Nan Whaley of Dayton, Ohio, closed them earlier this month to pare back expenses. 

But the move is costing some workers their jobs. And tougher decisions lie ahead.

Mayor Whaley is weighing cuts of up to 18% for the city budget in the next fiscal year. She has already had to furlough 25% of the city’s workforce, as she struggles to maintain vital services in a city where the median household income, at $31,000, is about half the national average.

Dayton’s challenge, though particularly acute, echoes in cities and states