North Adams Slashes $300K From Budget
 |
| Mayor John Barrett III explains cuts to this year's budget to the City Council. |
"This is cut to the bone, but we haven't cut into the bone ... yet," said Mayor John Barrett III in describing the reductions made across departments. But he warned the councilors on presenting the cuts, "I believe I will be back again."
The reductions won't cost current jobs but it will mean the loss of positions, said the mayor. Other cuts will come through supplies and training. For example, the public safety and public services departments will be cut $30,000 to $35,000; the mayor's office is losing $1,000 in expenses.
Further expense reductions are being reviewed, such as privatizing grass cutting, but there isn't much more to cut in terms of personnel, he said, because of how small departments have become over the years.
The city is being hit like others around the nation as the economy crumbles; Gov. Deval Patrick recently enacted a billion in state cuts across the board because of falling revenue. While those cuts out of the state's $28 billion budget didn't include local aid, the pinch is still being felt here because it slashed grants.
The school system has already taken a $100,000 hit, said Barrett, because it lost grants that supplemented salaries. (The school system was not included in the round of cuts Barrett presented Tuesday night.)
Barrett said further cuts, if Patrick is supplied the so-called 9C powers he's requested from the Legislature, would have a million-dollar impact on the city's $35 million budget. Some of the cuts he requested were in preparation of that possibility.
The mayor estimated that revenues will be down 4 percent; earlier this month, he said excise taxes alone could be off $100,000 or more because people aren't buying cars. (Williamstown Town Manager Peter Fohlin warned of a possible downturn in excise revenue at the Selectmen's meeting on Monday.)
While the city has had some good news — locking in heating oil the other day for a (shockingly) low $2.54 a gallon — it's at loggerheads with the teachers' and police union over insurance and salary negotiations.
The mayor told the council that the city had put on the table the same rates the nonunion employees had been offered and has rejected the unions' desire to join the state's Group Insurance Commission, at least for this year.
Instead, the city offered the unions an opportunity to try different health insurance options, mostly Blue Cross Blue Shield, with lower rates and high co-pays for a six-month period to try them out.
The unions, Barrett said, had then filed a grievance saying the city was violating a negotiating agreement and Freedom of Information Act requests for information on the city's self-insured program and claims.
The mayor has been battling the unions over the GIC option for several months, saying it isn't clear the city would save any money and noting the unions want the city to jump its co-pay coverage from 70 to 85 percent.
Several of the councilors have been intriqued by the idea of joining the GIC, which was opened to municipalities as part of the governor's Municipal Partnership Act.
Councilor Michael Bloom asked if it would be beneficial to at least adopt a law allowing the unions to negotiate together on the insurance, as required by the state, as a way of being prepared. The mayor rejected that idea: "I want a deal before I come into this council."
"Why wouldn't I do it if there was a great savings?" said Barrett. "There is no great savings. ... I'm not going to finance it on the backs of the taxpayers."
He speculated that the retirees hadn't been completely filled in on the GIC's effect on their coverage. "I think if the rank and file knew what was going on they'd be shocked, utterly shocked."
The mayor expected to have more cuts when he came back before the council for the city's tax classification. He estimated that the average taxpayer could see a $30 to $40 increase in property tax this year.
In other business:
- The council welcomed a delegation from its Italian Sister City of Tremosine
- Councilor Lisa Blackmer read a council resolution recommending a no vote on Question 1 that was approved by the council unanimously. (Councilor Ronald Boucher was absent.)
- Councilor Gailanne Cariddi read a resolution stating the city of North Adams welcomes "immigrants and their contributions to our city" and supports solutions to "strengthening our immigration system." The resolution was prompted by the Welcoming Massachusetts campaign, which seeks to highlight the contributions of legal immigrants. The resolution passed 7-1, with Councilor Clark Billings voting no. It will be passed on to the county's congressional delegation.
