City County Speaker Christine Quinn handed out pink slips to 61 city employees Friday.

Quinn?s spokesperson calls the firings part of restructuring for the City Council. Council aides say the firings were across the board and included some high-level staffers. The finance director and deputy finance director were among those ousted. This comes just weeks before the council is due to begin its own budget hearings. Quinn has already named Michael Keogh as a new finance director. Keogh most recently worked for the Mayor?s Office of State Legislative Affairs.

The firings represent 22 percent of the council?s central staff.