The Board of Trustees voted Monday evening to approve an agreement with OPEIU Local 32 that will effectively avert the layoffs of 14 municipal employees.

Last week, Local 32 members voted to accept concessions—payment of 0.5 to 2 percent of their salaries for health care and a total of 12 furlough days in 2009 and 2010—in order to save the jobs of 11 union members from the Department of Public Works, Recreation, Code Enforcement and the Municipal Court. The framework of the deal was agreed upon by Village and union officials on April 7, and a 2 percent salary increase in July 2010 and expiration of the concessions on Dec. 31, 2010 are part of the deal.

Though Assistant Director of Recreation and Cultural Affairs Judy Wukitsch—whose potential job loss became the subject of an outcry by arts supporters—and the two library employees whose layoffs had been recommended to the Library Board aren't union members and weren't explicitly protected in the agreement, their jobs have also been saved.

"In not going forward with layoffs, [the agreement] includes those three positions as well," said Village President Douglas Newman.

The agreement with Local 32 also calls for non-contractual employees not represented by the union—about 10, including some clerical workers, according to Village Administrator John Gross—to accept the same concessions as union members. Department heads will also be subject to furloughs, with the exception of police and fire personnel, and won't receive a pay increase until July 2010. A September 2008 resolution gave them a 2 percent salary increase after they started contributing to their health care plans.

Correction: Our story originally stated that department heads weren't subject to concessions. But trustee Michael Goldberg sent us a note saying that is incorrect. Under the agreement, they would take furlough—or temporary layoff—days.

Another resolution passed would give municipal employees the ability to opt out of their health care plans—provided they can show proof of other coverage—and roll the savings over into their salaries.

According to Newman, the plan is for furlough days—called temporary layoffs by the New Jersey Civil Service Commission—to be taken once a month through June 30, 2010. Entire departments could be shut down for one day a month.

The ordinance passed with a unanimous 5-0 vote, but layoffs won't technically be rescinded until it passes on second reading in two weeks.