Politics & Government

Personnel and Service Cuts Likely in Town Budget

Finance committee likely to present budget to Council in April.

The 2010 town budget will likely contain cuts in personnel and services.

In a sobering report Tuesday night, Councilman Mark Ciarrocca, the finance committee chairman, informed his colleagues that declining revenue projections is leading his committee to draft a spending plan containing the cuts. He said that the committee does not have the luxury of previous years of being able to make cuts that do not involve service cuts.

"In past years, budgets have been difficult and we have been able to work around the edges and present a budget," Ciarrocca said. "There is not even a close second in degree of difficulty."

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Ciarrocca said the finance committee has been presented with data a showing a decrease in investment income along with a sharp decline in construction permit fees. State aid to the town government is expected to decrease this year. In addition the town has less of a surplus due to past spending of the surplus.

He said the committee has asked all town department heads to present budgets looking at reductions. The proposals will include staffing cuts and potential reductions in town services.

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"We are at the point that if we make reductions there will be reductions in services," Ciarrocca said.

Ciarrocca said that personnel cuts will likely be spread across departments and that there will no exemption made for public safety agencies. He said the percentage of the budget occupied by the two departments dictate the inclusion of both agencies in the potential cuts.

"Everything is on the table," Ciarrocca said in a media availability after the Council meeting. "We are sensitive to public safety issues. When they are your two largest budgets, unfortunately you can't make appropriate cuts in the budget by attacking operating budgets."

The 2009 budget had been projected to contain layoffs, which included several in a first phase early in the process. A second round of layoffs was eliminated through retirements. Among the retirements were seven police officers. Town Administrator Jim Gildea said the town is currently expecting at least two police retirements and could experience more which would reduce the need for layoffs.

The possibility of layoffs and proposals by the Council to ask the town's four collective bargaining units to give back vacation days led to a politically contentious budget season in the late spring of 2009. Members of several town unions attended several Town Council meetings in a show of opposition to changes in vacation policy.

During his presentation to the Council, Ciarrocca pointed to one service reduction the town has seen through reductions in staffing. He noted that the town eliminated the three fulltime custodial positions covering the Municipal Building, shifting the daytime building custodian role to a Department of Public Works employee and retaining a part time custodian to work evenings.

He said the reduction will likely lead to custodial issues in the Municipal Building along with having one less DPW worker available to fill potholes and work on other infrastructure issues. Ciarrocca said this will be one area that his committee will use as a reference point when deliberating cuts.

In addition to potential cuts, Ciarrocca said the finance committee has asked department heads to review revenue enhancement proposals in their agencies. This could include raising service fee and other non tax revenue. He said this will not close any budget gap, noting that fees have been raised in past years and cannot be raised enough to fill the gap.

Ciarrocca and Gildea cautioned that cuts adopted during the June budget vote may not remain permanent. They noted that the finance committee will continue to review revenue numbers and could restore any cut positions if more money becomes available.

Ciarrocca said his committee will be meeting through March and expects to brief the Town Council during an April workshop meeting on a proposed budget. A formal presentation of a draft budget will be made at an April public meeting of the Council, with public comments following until a final adoption vote.

"We still have a lot of work to do," he said.


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