Budget cuts reality begins
Published on June 23rd, 2004
STONEHAM, MA - Minutes after the Finance Board unanimously approved transferring $4000 in reserve funds to his FY04 budget, Building Inspector Gene Argiro stepped in front of the Selectmen on Monday night and requested $45,000 for his FY05 budget.
According to Argiro, come July 1, his office will be so backed up without an assistant building inspector that he will have to put requests for both commercial site plans and routine building permits on the back burner for more important safety and fire prevention issues.
Also predicting that the permitting process will become so drawn out that many developers and builders will do small renovation projects illegally, Argiro warned that his office would fall far short of bringing in the $75,000 of net revenue it generated for the town in FY04.
"Time is money to the developers and the builders. They pay the permitting fees...The other thing that comes into play is the amount of zoning complaints we get," said Argiro.
"I have life safety issues, public safety issues that I have to respond to. If this happens, you get the phone calls," threatened Argiro, who suggested that his hours be reduced from 37.5 to 35 hours per week and his full-time clerk position be eliminated to restore Assistant Building Inspector Cheryl Noble's position.
Because the Selectmen originally intended to go directly into executive session to interview potential candidates for town administrator, Selectman Charlie Smith immediately questioned whether the issue should be discussed more public ally.
"I believe this is an important issue for the town. And I don't believe putting this on the agenda on a Monday night at the last minute is appropriate," said Smith.
However, both Selectmen John DePinto and Tony Kennedy, who added the item to the agenda on Monday morning, countered that with the FY05 budget becoming a reality on July 1, the board had no time left to address Argiro's concerns.
"I think time is of the essence here. Basically we have nine days left before the new budget," said DePinto.
While the Selectmen accepted the addendum in a 4-1 vote, board members warned Argiro that any decision to restore funds was outside of their jurisdiction and instead rested in the hands of Town Administrator David Berry.
Despite the Selectmen's claim, Berry indicated in a post-meeting interview that he will not approve any major changes to the FY05 budget without the approval of the Selectmen.
"I'm really going to have to talk to the Selectmen about it," said Berry when asked if he would approve the changes. "I just feel the budget was their decision and if they don't care [about making the changes], that's fine. But they pretty much specifically directed which offices were taking cuts."
While the Board of Selectmen ultimately deferred his request to Town Administrator David Berry, Argiro met stiff resistance from both board members and town hall employees alike.
According to Town Clerk John Hanright and Town Treasurer's office clerk Kathleen Sullivan, removing Argiro's full-time clerk -- the town's longest serving union member -- would cause a ripple effect throughout Town Hall.
Because the town's unions require that employees with the least seniority be the first out the door during mass layoffs, eliminating the Building Department's full-time clerk position would bump four persons into five different departments, Hanright and Sullivan argued.
"That person in the building department is the highest ranking union member. That person knocks off the second highest member in the treasurer's office...The ramifications of this are huge," Hanright argued.
"I've already lost a person in my department who had 10-years experience in election services. If this happens and Gene's happy, I'm gong to put the shingles up," the town clerk added.
According to Stoneham Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly, the school department is also struggling with the bumping process as it identifies particular employees being laid-off.
"The reduction in force language says you have to layoff the people with the least senior people in each department. However, if these teachers have multiple certifications, that process becomes quite complicated," Connelly explained, adding that principals, administrators and math and science teachers often have multiple certifications under their belts.
Using the reduction of an elementary school librarian as an example, the Superintendent explained that the bumping process resulted in the actual loss of a high school English teacher.
Forced to send out 130 pink slips to school teachers and employees until the seniority of each worker could be determined, Connelly added that the process of identifying the specific layoffs is exacerbated by the number of teachers who have found new jobs and in turn submitted their resignations.
"What I'm doing now is following up on each one because each and every day we have more resignations. What we plan to do next Thursday night is transform the list of cuts into final names," said Connelly.
While the school committee doesn't plan to release the names of those laid-off until next Thursday, they have approved a final budget.
While some parents attending last week's school committee meeting complained that the final cuts didn't seem to match-up to the list of reductions released prior to the override's failure, Connelly said the only difference between the two lists is the restoration of a third grade teacher to the Central School.
"In the school department the final cuts factored out to be the equivalent of 45 positions. A lot of school committee parents questioned if this was the same list of cuts and the answer is that it's a mirror image [besides the addition of the third grade teacher back into the budget]," said Connelly.
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!