In an effort to balance the Bridgeport budget and maintain fiscal strength, 31 city employees will be laid off sometime this week, according to Mayor Bill Finch Monday.

?In order to make sure that the city's budget is balanced and make sure that we can stay fiscally strong in a free-falling economy, we felt we had to do this,? Finch says.

The layoffs will amount to almost $2 million in savings for the city budget.

Finch announced the decision at the City Hall Annex and specified that the cuts include 14 City Hall employees, 15 police department employees, one from the Department of Public Works and one from the Department of Health.