A day after announcing that 30 city employees may be laid off to help fill a budget gap of 2.4 million dollars, The Mayor of Richmond says there could be other options.

Richmond City Manager Jimmy Howard crunched the numbers and determined that laying off 30 employees, cutting salary across the board by 5%, raising city water taxes and other measures could fill the hole.

Mayor Connie Lawson says while some job loss is inevitable, early retirement, furloughs, and consolidation is a better way to attack the problem.

She points to the 911 call center as an example. Lawson says it makes dollars and sense to combine the county call center with the city police department.

Lawson is also challenging others to find alternative sources of revenue.

She says, "It would be very sad to give up a job only to realize we had enough revenue to cover that job."

City leaders have until the end of January 2010 to balance the budget.