All Dallas Public Library locations and the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center will be closed Friday because of a city of Dallas employee furlough.
The city announced in a June 30 news release it would furlough workers for three days to help offset a $30 million budget shortfall. Employees in certain leadership roles are asked to take two additional furlough days.
The first of these days is Friday, July 10, with the remaining two scheduled for Sept. 4 and Sept. 28.
Under the furlough, all non-uniform city employees paid via the general fund, the city’s primary operating budget, must take leave without pay. Employees are not permitted to take a sick day or vacation day in place of the furlough.
In addition to Dallas Public Library locations, code compliance and homeless outreach offices will also be closed, The Dallas Morning News previously reported.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center will be closed Friday as well, according to the center’s website.
Dallas Park and Recreation centers, aquatic facilities, golf courses and Fair Park will remain open. Andrea Hawkins, Dallas Park and Recreation’s manager of marketing and media relations, said department employees are complying with the furlough, but facilities will remain open because there are programs and activities, including summer camps and swim lessons, housed within them.
To ensure compliance, Park and Recreation is adjusting employee schedules and operations, Hawkins said.
Police officers, firefighters, paramedics and 911 employees are exempt from the furlough, according to the news release. The city’s enterprise departments, including the Department of Sanitation Services, Department of Aviation and Dallas Water Utilities will also remain open Friday, and essential information technology and fleet services employees are set to work as normal.
This means garbage collection will not see an impact from the furlough, nor will operations at Dallas’ airports.
The city most recently furloughed 472 city employees for roughly three months in 2020 in order to address a budget shortfall. Impacted employees largely worked for the Park and Recreation department, libraries and the Office of Arts and Culture, The News reported. The decision came as libraries, recreation centers and cultural facilities had been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.