The 2010-2011 budget , recently approved by the Enfield Town Council , includes the elimination of 15 public service jobs and a plan to outsource the services provided by the employees who would be laid-off to private companies .

The job cuts would impact a variety of municipal offices , including elder care , road and highway maintenance , planning and engineering , and tax revenue collections .

Members of the union representing two groups of Enfield employees urged the Council to engage them in a working partnership to keep the jobs and come up with a different solution , said Matt O’Connor , a representative of CSEA / SEIU Local 2001 .

“ We’re concerned that this ‘ restructuring’ plan will not actually benefit the people of Enfield , ” said Roger Alsbaugh , assistant town planner in the Planning and Zoning Department .

“ It’s premised on contracting-out services to private vendors , who are not necessarily going to put local taxpayers first , ” said Alsbaugh , the president of the CSEA / SEIU local 2001 chapter representing the professional and technical employees of Enfield .

“ We still have employees that will still be doing the jobs in the departments where the layoffs are implemented . In engineering , some of the projects we do are already done by contractors , ” said Enfield Town Manager Matthew Coppler . “ The smaller projects may go out . We will not really be doing anything any different than we are now . ”

“ There is not much money for projects . And , all the large projects go to outside contractors already , ” said Coppler .

“ The engineering department will be the hardest hit , ” said O’Connor . “ Four positions are being cut . ”

The engineering department handles a variety of duties that include , working with private individuals and businesses when they want to expand or do any construction on their property .

“ The long-term costs of layoffs and public service cuts will be a degraded quality of life and diminished property values , ” said Suzanne Guinness , the collector of revenue in the Finance Department .

“ That’s why we’ve gathered and submitted proposals to help us all weather this economic storm , ” said Guinness , a member of the union’s chapter representing Enfield’s supervisory staff .

The proposal is a list of 15 ideas and suggestions union members submitted to the Town Manager in an effort to help reach a solution .

“ Most of these suggestions have been considered and some done in the past . The suggestions to improve recycling would have to spend $ 1 . 7 million to do it . That doesn’t save jobs , ” said Coppler .

Some of the suggestions include reducing the hours buildings are open , repair or replace the HVAC system timing so air and heat are not on when not needed and enforce a reduced electricity use policy .

The suggestions also talk about a flexible work schedule that would permit family-friendly scheduling for employees and allow them to voluntarily reduce their hours and disperse workloads among staff .

“ To save one job we need to save $ 65 , 000-70 , 000 , ” said Coppler . “ I am not sure how many people are willing to reduce that much . ”

CSEA / SEIU Local 2001 represents 25 , 000 public sector workers who work for state and municipal agencies and school districts across Connecticut .

They currently represent 69 Enfield workers in two chapters .

“ Our view is that the town is losing services that are of a higher quality than that of a private contractor , ” said O’Connor .

“ Their record is mixed , at best , ” he said .

“ This budget is what the council has adopted , and unless the state has money half-way through the year, this is what we have to work with , ” said Coppler .

“ The actual layoff number is under 10 , due to several people taking early retirement , ” said Coppler .

“ We needed to cut $ 3 million to balance the budget . We saved around $ 1 million with the staff reductions . Everything we could do , we did , ” added Coppler .

“ Even though the budget has passed , it is not too late to look for better choices , ” said O’Connor .