Neighborhoods Dept. Bears Heavy Budget Cuts Load

When Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson announced his budget cuts this week, one of the hardest-hit departments was the Department of Neighborhoods.Mayor Abramson managed to fill a 20-million dollar budget gap without layoffs."As a result, departments like Neighborhoods, departments like the Finance department; they’re the ones that are taking the largest percentage cuts," says Abramson.While other city departments are dealing with one or two percent cuts, The Department of Neighborhoods was slashed ten-percent."A number of the cuts in that ten-percent are coming from personnel positions," says Phil Miller, the Mayor's liaison to Neighborhoods. Three positions that were empty are now eliminated and two positions with Brightside, the city’s beautification program, are now going to be paid for by their donors instead of the city. A student art program and city’s annual New Year’s Eve party are also gone.