Economy May Delay Lowe's Project
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"I don't think you are going to see anything until the economy turns around," Mayor John Barrett III told the City Council on Tuesday night.
Councilor Ronald Boucher had asked for an update on the project and questioned the mayor's comment about the plaza coming down "whether there's a Lowe's."
A Lowe's Home Improvement store is planned for the Curran Highway site purchased by Starwood Ceruzzi LLC of Fairfield, Conn., some five years ago for $2.5 million. The project has passed a number of permitting hurdles and the project was awarded tax incentives by the city last year.
The mayor said the company still had some permits to work through and that he expected the project to come to fruition.
"Are they still building nationwide? Yes. Are they very selective markets? Yes. Do I expect there to be a Lowe's there? Yes," he said.
The decrepit building that once housed the cinemas and several stores, including a Price Chopper at one point, has to be dealt with, said Barrett. The city has been patient with Starwood but the building is a blight and if the company's attorney hadn't assured Tuesday that something would happen, the mayor said he had expected to come to the council at the next meeting to take action.
"I would fully expect that [demolition] would begin within the next 30 days," he said. "Just to take that entire strip down is going to be around a $1 million."
City's Budget Trimmed Again
Barrett blamed the delay on the bad economy, which has been taking a toll on state and local revenues as well. In part because of so-called 9C cuts made by Gov. Deval Patrick earlier in the year to stem a billion-dollar hole in the state budget, the city lost $538,000 in state aid.
Barrett came before the council for the third time to adjust the city's 2009 budget since last fall. A month ago, he cut the budget by $200,000.
Another $120,000 had to be trimmed this time; the council also appropriated at the mayor's request $200,000 from the sales of city land toward debt reduction and $226,000 from the free cash account to cover a $102,000 overrun in snow and ice removal and $124,000 to the veterans' benefit account.
Veterans benefits have increased over the past 12 months but the state's 75 percent reimbursement is not received until the following fiscal year. In response to questions, the mayor said there was
$460,000 left in free cash and $2.7 million in the sale-of-land account.
While there are no layoffs the city continues to run shorthanded, Barrett told the council, including operating without a treasurer.
"Out of the $800,000 in cuts we made since last June we will have made real cuts of $630,000," he said. "The reason why it's so important that we make these cuts before the end of the fiscal year is that it makes it a little easier when we have to cut another $1.2 million to $1.5 million in cuts for next year."
In addition to state aid reductions, the city has seen a drop in its interest income and excise taxes because of the downturn. He warned that it could get worse because the state Senate believes the recently passed House budget for next year is off by a $1 billion or more despite hiking the sales tax.
That could mean slashing Chapter 70 education aid, which would affect every city and town. "It's easy for them in Boston to make cuts ... But we're on the front line."
