North Adams Cuts $200K; Mayor Warns More Reductions Ahead

By Tammy Daniels
iBerkshires Staff
11:37PM / Tuesday, April 14, 2009

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council approved more than $200,000 in cuts from this year's $35 million budget on Tuesday night, bringing the total sliced from the city's spending plan to more than a half-million since June.

"We will end the year on the positive side after these cuts are made," said Mayor John Barrett III. "But we're probably going to have to use about $200,000 of our free cash, which has about $700,000 left," for snow and ice and veterans accounts.

The mayor said most of the reductions this time around came from salaries for positions that would become vacant through attrition. For example, longtime Highway Superintendent Leo Senecal and another highway worker will be retiring on May 1.

In October, the mayor had asked for $310,000 in cuts after Gov. Deval Patrick's slashed a billion from the state budget; another round of cuts in January cost $538,000 in local aid to North Adams.

"The economic picture has become much bleaker than it was in October," said the mayor. "If we don't make the cuts now, it will make it doubly difficult for the budget to be prepared for next year."

The fiscal 2010 budget will be approximately $2 million less than this year's budget, he said, or four times the amount of new revenue the city raised this year. Receipts are down $250,000 mainly because of the decrease in the excise taxes because of the slowdown car sales.

Worse, "I have to come back here at some point in time and find another $338,00 on top of this," he said. "We have some innovative things we're working on that I hope will come up with between now and the middle of June.

School department is not being touched, but it has been charged with finding $1.2 million in savings for next year, which should make up the majority of the anticipated cuts for fiscal 2010. School officials believe most of that can be done with the closing of Conte Middle School.

How the city fares financially may depend on the House's version of the state budget expected to be released Wednesday. Barrett said he had been informed it would be $1 billion less than Patrick's budget; House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo has warned of "billions" in cuts for next year.  The governor unveiled $156 million in reductions on Tuesday to plug a budget gap this year that could balloon to $400 million by June.

Lawmakers have so far rejected hikes in taxes on gasoline, hotel/motels, meals, candy, soda and other revenue streams built into Patrick's budget, some of which was targeted for local aid. There's a likelihood lawmakers will approve a local meals and motel tax.

"This Legislature has to make some tough decisions. They say there's no appetite down there for taxes, well there's no appetite back here in North Adams or anyplace for new taxes," said Barrett. "What they like to do is pass it back to us and and say, 'here, we'll let you raise all the taxes you want,' and then they'll be the good guys."

While the Berkshire delegation has said they'd support whatever was needed at the local  level, the mayor told the council, the leadership had to step up, too.

"They're not being courageous in what they've been elected to do."

Mohawk Money

The council also unanimously passed to a second reading a bridge loan for first-phase work on the historic Mohawk Theater. Barrett said the loan would be paid off by the sale of $2.1 million in state and federal historical tax credits. "We hope to sell them all at once," said the mayor, but there are certain other elements that have to be completed first. The sale could bring in 90 cents on the dollar, at worst 80, to bring in about $1.6 million.

"Everything will be paid for in it's entirety. There will be no debt associated with it," he said.

The 900-seat theater will be able to host functions such as weddings, and productions and movies. It will be tied to Massachusetts College of Liberal Art's arts programs and Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

The current phase focuses on gutting the interior and restoring the facade and roof. Electrical and heat will be installed in the next phase. Barrett said U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., had secured another $190,000 for the project last week; stimulus money and fundraising efforts will hopefully help complete next phase, estimated at $3 million to $4 million. Barrett said a donation "in the six figures" from a contributor will be announced in the coming months.

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