It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

In August, the city of Lawrence laid off eight firefighters and closed two firehouses to save money and help balance its budget. City officials said they had little choice. They had to save the money somewhere.

But it turns out the city saved precisely nothing from the move. Those firefighters have been at home collecting their full pay for the last 11 weeks.

It's a prime example of how rules designed to defend public employees make it nearly impossible for a municipality to balance its budget through effective personnel management. It's also indicative of managerial incompetence in a city that receives millions in federal and state assistance.

The firefighters have the right to a civil service hearing to determine whether their layoffs are justified. The hearing was held more than a month ago, but the hearing officer as of last week had yet to release a decision.

Fire Chief Peter Takvorian said the firefighters would rather be working but are forced to stay home due to the legal proceedings.

"These people who are affected don't want to be in this position," Takvorian told The Eagle-Tribune.

That's nice. But didn't Takvorian or the mayor or anyone else foresee that laying off the firefighters would leave the city paying out weeks of wages for no work?

Meanwhile, the firefighters may be headed back to work after all. The city has received a $521,000 grant of stimulus funds designed to help communities restore positions eliminated through layoffs.

In the interim, however, the city closed two firehouses and continued to pay eight firefighters for doing nothing. That's no joke. It's just another pathetic instance of how the system works in the commonwealth.