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By Hale McGranahan
Staff Reporter

Greer communications manager Steve Owens said City Administrator Ed Driggers is continuing to work with city department heads to find additional ways to trim the budget.
“It’s just a matter, with the current economy, of cutting expenses and being more efficient with the funds we do have,” Owens said.
He said a freeze has been put on hiring additional staff members to the city’s 200 or so employees.
“That’s the first step, an obvious step,” Owens said. “One of the ways of saving money with personnel is through attrition, and that’s the first step in this process.”
If an employee leaves a position, Owens said the city would not immediately rehire in the position, but it depends on the job description
and the ability of others to fill the position until the economy improves.
But the goal is to be sure that city services aren’t affected.
“If we do our job well, the public should really notice no significant change, although it is going to require some sacrifices on the city’s part,” Owens said.
Owens said the city is fortunate that it has been “fairly insulated” against the economy’s downturn as municipalities across the state and nation has been hit hard. There will be a better idea of what’s going to happen once department heads report back with cost saving ideas, he said.
“It just lasted longer than expected, and now it has reached Greer,” he said.
At this point, Owens said there has been no word of employees being laid off, or cutting employee workweeks to less than 40 hours.
There is no plan for the city to dip into its reserve funds, which would have to be approved by Council. It’s something the city doesn’t want to make a habit of, he said.
Other significant changes aside from the freeze on hiring won’t be known for another few weeks.
“It’s a situation everyone is experiencing in the nation right now, I can’t think any business, company or entity is exempt from it,” Owens
said, calling the current economic situation extraordinary times.
“Council, the administrator and the leaders of this city will be making some difficult decisions,” he said.

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