Two weeks into the government shutdown, Salt Lake City is stepping in to help federal employees who are losing paychecks.
On Oct. 7, the Salt Lake City Council opted to amend the city’s budget to spend an additional $100,000 from its airport fund to support Transportation Security Administration employees who were expected to work without pay under the shutdown.
The airport has used the funds to organize a food pantry to supply basic food and hygiene products for its 400 TSA employees and around 30 Customs and Border Protection agents who are going unpaid during the shutdown, Salt Lake City Department of Airports Executive Director Bill Wyatt said. Workers can access the pantry near the airport’s offices.
“These employees aren’t making necessarily robust wages — these are public servants, they’re federal employees,” Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said. “When — for no reason of their own doing — people can’t bring a paycheck home, this compromises the fabric of stability in an entire community.”
The Salt Lake City airport hasn’t experienced any delays due to the shutdown so far, but Wyatt said the facility is now into its first pay period where federal employees will get nothing — and he anticipates the effect of that will start showing soon, as employees won’t have the money to pay rent even though they showed up to work.
Read more at sltrib.com
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.