The Kansas City Star is the latest in a string of mid-sized metros in the United States to offer buyouts to employees, telling readers today that Star employees with 20 years of “uninterrupted service” can take the paper up on its offer, which gives 20 weeks' pay.

“The voluntary program will be limited to fewer than four percent of The Star's nearly 1,400 employees and will not have a minimum job-reduction target,” the paper stated, citing Publisher Mac Tully, Editor & Publisher reported Wednesday.

Those eligible for the buyout have until Dec. 19 to make their decisions, and those who agree to the deal will have a last day of work on Jan. 11, 2008. However, the paper stated that “an unspecified limit will be placed on the number of departures in each division of the paper so that no one division is unfairly affected,” according to E&P.

Tully stated in a staff memo that the Star will not resort to layoffs if not enough employees leave through the buyout deal.

“However, this does not preclude the possibility of future severance programmes as The Star continues to look for operating efficiencies,” Tully stated.

The buyout was constructed because “readership and advertising revenue from the core daily newspaper continue to soften,” the newspaper stated. The Star's parent company, McClatchy, “has suffered sharp declines in revenue at its California and Florida newspapers, where local real estate markets are under pressure.”