Vicksburg leaders say declining tax revenues are forcing them to reorganize city government and get rid of some workers.

The Vicksburg Post reports that the Board of Mayor and Aldermen met in a closed-door session Thursday fired the man who’d been the city personnel director for eight years. The elected officials also laid off three other longtime employees, one of whom had worked for the city for 34 years.

Mayor Paul Winfield, who took office in July, says “there’s never a good time” for people to lose their jobs, but the city has to cut expenses.

Vicksburg has roughly 550 city employees and a population of 25,000. Winfield says about 25 department heads report to the mayor and aldermen, and he wants to pare that down to 10.