Erie Mayor Daria Devlin’s administration is cutting/vacating six city jobs, mandating expense cuts and making a plea for financial assistance to Erie’s Parking Authority and the local nonprofit and business community as the city faces a $12 million budget deficit for 2027.
Five of the personnel moves are layoffs of city workers; one involves a retiring employee who will not be replaced, Devlin said.
The affected employees were notified on June 4.
Daria Devlin speaks after being sworn-in as new Erie mayor inside Erie City Hall in Erie on Jan. 5, 2026.
Previous coverage: The city of Erie is staring at a $12M budget deficit. What’s next?
Devlin told the Erie Times-News in a recent interview that her immediate priority is reducing the budget gap by at least $3 million — via some combination of expense cuts and new revenues — before the end of the year.
The budget hole is due to a variety of factors, including pension costs; dwindling one-time revenues; rising employee-related costs; and stagnant revenues.
“I’ve been pretty singularly focused on that $3 million number,” Devlin said.
Devlin reiterated that the city has to explore “every single option” to fix its budget issues. However, Devlin would not commit to raising city property taxes in 2027.
Personnel moves
Devlin said four non-union city employees who work closely with her administration at City Hall were laid off last week. They include:
Mas Sala, coordinator of the city’s Citizen Response Center, which addresses citizen concerns/complaints regarding city operations. “Citizen concerns that had been handled by the Citizen Response Center will now be forwarded and addressed by the relevant city departments,” Devlin said.
Marjorie Bruce, Devlin’s executive assistant.
Monica Gustin, a digital media and design coordinator.
Nathan Goetz, the city’s assistant coordinator of special events.
In addition, the city plans to eliminate one laborer position in its Department of Parks, and Assistant Erie Fire Chief Gregory Purchase, who retired recently, will not be replaced, Devlin said.
Those employee reductions, Devlin said, will save the city about $300,000 through the remainder of 2026 in salary/benefit costs, and $650,000 over a full year.
Devlin said that eliminating city jobs is never easy. But she pointed out that the majority of the layoffs are positions that directly support her office/administration.
“We want to lead by example in all of this,” Devlin said. “It’s painful, but I would rather my office absorb more than impact other departments, where citizens would feel the pain.”
Slashing expenses
Devlin also announced that the city is making $500,000 worth of expense cuts through the end of the year.
“It’s professional services that we don’t think we’re going to need, supplies that were overbudgeted or we feel we can scale back on,” Devlin said.
Additionally, money budgeted for utilities/insurance at the Erie Zoo in 2026 does not have to be allocated because of the zoo’s new partnership with Erie Events, she said.
“It’s asking people to spend less and buy less. It’s really belt tightening,” Devlin said, acknowledging that the city will continue to look for other potential expense cuts.
Businesses, nonprofits asked to contribute $1.3 million
Devlin met with with representatives of a number of local businesses, tax-exempt organizations and nonprofit organizations on May 14 at the Warner Theatre.
Her pitch?
Help us out financially.
Devlin said she has asked those entities to directly contribute at least $1.3 million to the city, to help close the budget gap and in exchange for the various city services they benefit from, including police and fire protection.
Consultant’s take: Budget cuts, property tax hikes pitched to close $12M budget gap
Devlin said the city’s ongoing costs — including technology and data storage — related to police body cameras is a significant component of that.
The funding plea extends to both UPMC Hamot and AHN Saint Vincent; Erie Insurance; local banks and law firms; and others in the downtown business community, Devlin said.
“The reception has been very strong,” Devlin said. “I’m following up with them now, individually, to see where everybody is. But I’m feeling good about getting close to that number this year.”
Parking Authority help?
Devlin said her administration would also like to strike a new deal with the Erie Parking Authority that would see the authority provide the city with $500,000 annually.
In exchange, the city would continue to guarantee debt on the Parking Authority’s multimillion-dollar capital improvement bonds.
Christopher Friday, executive director of the Erie Parking Authority.
The authority uses that financing to fund parking structure improvements and the guarantee allows the Parking Authority to borrow money at a lower interest rate because of the city’s good credit rating.
The Parking Authority has had similar deals in the past with previous mayoral administrations.
Christopher Friday, the Parking Authority’s executive director, said the authority is talking with Devlin about “ideas that can be beneficial to both of us.”
That could include the potential for a new municipal services agreement between the authority and the city, Friday said. No new agreement has yet been finalized, he said.
Friday said the authority has its own financial issues to consider, including the need for millions of dollars in upgrades soon at several of its parking garages. “So we also have to keep that in mind,” Friday said.
Next steps
Philadelphia-based Public Financial Management Inc., hired by the city as its state-required consultant for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development’s Strategic Management Planning Program, will start conducting management audits of city operations this month.
From February: A financial deep dive is planned for Erie. Here’s what it will examine
Gordon Mann, PFM’s director, has said the audit will review the city’s major departments and functions.
Gordon Mann, director of the Philadelphia-based consulting firm Public Financial Management, talks with city of Erie officials May 14 during a public study session on a $12 million budget deficit the city faces.
PFM is expected to make specific recommendations to Devlin’s administration regarding the city’s finances sometime in August.
PFM’s work will involve detailed examination of operations within various city departments, which could help identify further potential expense cuts, Devlin said.
“We need PFM’s full recommendations before we can craft the (2027 budget),” Devlin said.
Contact Kevin Flowers at kflowers@timesnews.com. Follow him on X at @ETNflowers.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Here’s how city of Erie is responding to $12M budget crisis