A father (L) and his son stand beside their destroyed house in New Orleans, Louisiana, the US, October 2, 2005. (Xinhua Photo)

    Beijing, Oct. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced on Tuesday that the city will lay off 3,000 city employees, about half the city's workforce.

    "We can limp along for another month or two," he told a news conference. "Beyond two months we'll be talking again."

    The layoffs, which Nagin described as "pretty permanent," are expected to save the hard-hit city $5 million to $8 million a month. New Orleans' currently pays about $20 million a month in salaries for its more than 6,000 city workers, Nagin said.

    The announcement Tuesday was a concession to a mounting financial crisis across the region that was devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

    "I have to deal with the reality," the mayor said, his head bowed. "We cannot afford to keep the full complement of city workers."

    It came a day after Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco warned that many local governments were "on the verge of financial collapse" and appealed to the Bush administration and Congress for help.    

    On Monday Blanco asked Congress to amend or suspend U.S. law that prohibits spending federal emergency money to cover the basic expenses of local governments, including payrolls.

    The law does allow for the reimbursement of overtime costs in some cases. Enditem

    (Agencies)

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