Town officials plan for budget crunch
Published on December 10th, 2003
STONEHA, MA - Unveiling three options to bridge a projected $4 to $4.5 million deficit for FY05, members from three municipal boards agreed that without an override, the town cannot avoid sweeping layoffs and drastic budget cuts.
Calling to order last night's joint meeting between the Finance and Advisory Board, Board of Selectmen, and School Committee, Selectmen Chairwoman Mary Pecoraro argued that the town will most likely endorse a budget solution that will bridge the FY05 deficit with a combination of an override and department cuts.
"One option is an override for the entire amount. Another option is to not have an override at all and just cut personnel and services. The third option is to have a partial override and cuts. I think that middle ground is something we have to look at, as painful as that would be," Pecoraro commented.
"I'm a tax-payer and my first reaction is I don't want to pay any additional taxes. But we have a quality of life and level of services that people in Stoneham expect," she added.
Agreeing with Pecoraro, Stoneham Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly claimed that contrary to what people would expect, the FY05 deficit resulted from the excellent management of town funds over the past few years.
"It's not the result of mismanaging - it's in fact a result of excellent management by the townspeople for years. This year we've just run out of options," said Connelly.
Although a full-override to cover the over $4 million deficit was also discussed, Pecoraro thought the town's citizens would label such an approach unacceptable.
"I think they'd be justifiably angry that we took the easy way out. I think people would be willing to bite the bullet if we say, close the Town Hall one morning a week. It would really show the people that the boards in town are working to cut expenses," Pecoraro remarked.
Attempting to prepare for a greatly hyped public hearing scheduled for Jan. 12 at the high school auditorium, the three boards struggled to nail down the exact amount of the deficit.
While town officials agreed that the town will assume nearly $1 million in unexpected pension liabilities, nearly $3 million in revenues lost through the use of one-time funds, and approximately $1 million in health insurance and salary increase costs, there was some debate about how much Stoneham would lose from state aid cuts.
With Selectman Tony Kennedy explaining that Stoneham could lose as much as 10 percent in state aid, heaping another $600,000 onto the multi-million problem, the Selectmen Vice-Chair argued that the three departments needed to identify a more logical and concrete idea of the exact deficit.
"I think it's important to review what the timeline is for the budget...I think at some point we have to agree that this is the deficit we're working with. Otherwise, how can we resolve it?" Kennedy remarked.
Agreeing with the Selectman, Connelly expressed his reluctance to enter into a highly publicized hearing with dated or incorrect information.
"I think Tony raises a very important point. I don't think any of us wants to go to a very large public hearing with information that will drastically change in three to four weeks. If that's a possibility, it's very important that we delay this meeting," said Connelly.
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