Mayor Greg Nickels announced today that he has informed more than 100 senior city executives that they will have their salaries frozen at or rolled back to 2008 levels.

Also four executive offices have been directed to begin instituting furloughs for their employees.

“With the continued turmoil in the economy nationwide, we will face some difficult decisions to reduce our city budget and it is important that our executives lead by example,” said Nickels in a statement.

Department directors and executives, including the mayor, will forgo the 2009 cost-ofliving adjustment of 4.5 percent, and their salaries will be frozen at 2008 levels.

The mayor also announced that four executive offices will begin furloughs for employees whose salaries are not frozen. With the exception of clerical employees, workers in the mayor’s office, Finance Department, Office of Policy Management and Office of Intergovernmental Relations will take seven days without pay in 2009.

The furloughs and wage freezes are expected to save about $675,000 in 2009, helping to minimize the number of layoffs that may be required, according to the release.

The cost-cutting measure is part of an ongoing effort to reduce city expenses in the current economic downtown. Previously, Nickels asked departments to identify additional 2009 general fund reductions of up to 3 percent. The
mayor’s office will begin reviewing the proposals next week and discuss implementation with City Council.

The city will release its latest revenue forecast in early April. Sales tax revenues were down 8.5 percent in November 2008 and 11.4 percent in December 2008, compared to 2007.