Alcombright Offers Bleak Budget Scenarios, Advises Override

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
12:00AM / Wednesday, May 12, 2010Print Story | Email Story

Mayor Richard Alcombright explains the city's fiscal problems on Tuesday night.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city's bleak financial picture will necessitate at least a 10 percent hike in property taxes and a possible Proposition 2 1/2 override.

"In the past, the mantra of low taxes equals good fiscal management ... past fiscal management has caused our house of cards to collapse at this point," Mayor Richard Alcombright told the City Council on Tuesday night. "We've used cash reserves and not revenue to pay our bills."

Alcombright, who took office on Jan. 1, gave what was essentially a state-of-the-city presentation, noting the good news — infrastructure improvements, renewed civic engagement — along with the bad. But mostly bad. There was no way that the city could function without raising fees and property taxes, said the mayor.

The city's looking at an $800,000 deficit for 2011 — that's after some $700,000 in cuts and the inclusion of a 10 percent water rate increase, the institution of a sewer fee and adoption of a .75 percent meals tax. Alcombright said without the cuts, fees and raising taxes, the city was looking at a $1.6 million deficit for the coming year.

The mayor is recommending a Proposition 2 1/2 override of $1 million that would not include any sewer fee or hike in water rates. That would mean a 19 percent hike in property taxes, or about $333 for the average homeowner.

The council gave final approval to adopting the meals tax on Tuesday, and to a home rule petition to borrow or amortize no more than $880,000 to fund the runout from the Medical Insurance Trust and as a settlement with the public employees union.

To do that, the Department of Revenue is requiring the city tax to its full capacity, assuring a 10 percent property tax increase next year. Alcombright said the city would have to tax to full capacity anyway to cover the budget deficit.

The combined school and municipal budget has hovered around $40 million for the past several years, but revenues have dropped more than a $600,000 and state aid by 17 percent.

The budget was referred to the Finance Committee, headed by Councilor Michael Bloom.

In the meantime, the city's fallback accounts have been raided to cover recurring debt, salaries and operating expenses to the tune of $3.4 million just over the past few years.

"These past fiscal practices are now haunting our budget," said Alcombright. "Our cash reserves are pathetically low at this point."

The city's seen its free cash drop from $3.3 million in 2001 to $307,000 today; it's about .03 percent of the levy percent, when the state advises municipalities to keep 5 to 6 percent on hand, said the mayor.

Alcombright, a critic of the past administration's penchant for property purchases, said the city would begin divesting itself real estate, including the Windsor Mill, to replenish accounts. It's also looking into capping the landfill with solar to reduce costs, partnerships with other communities better utilization of Windsor Lake and consolidating energy across departments for purchasing leverage.

But to meet the coming fiscal year, he outlined three scenarios that included his recommendation for a Proposition 2 1/2 override for $1 million.

The first scenario would include the hike in water rates; a sewer user fee of 42 percent of the water bill, and the 10 percent property tax hike (at a cost of about $27.25 a month for the average homeowner) along with using $800,000 from the water shed account.

The third, assuming no budget compromise between the Legislature's chambers on the state budget, would be a Proposition 2 1/2 override of $1.5 million for a 23 percent tax increase.

He said he would not recommend anymore cuts, particularly in the school department, or to public services.

"We're in a mess. We need to consider how we get through the years ahead," he said. "I've inherited a fiscal mess and I need your help to fix it."

The councilors were supportive of the mayor's efforts, with Councilor Michael Bloom, chairman of the Finance Committee, strongly re-iterating that Alcombright had inherited the problems.

The mayor will present a more detailed review of the budget scenarios to the public on Tuesday, May 18, at 7 p.m. at Drury High School.

The presentation can be seen below or here.

In other business,

► The council approved a resolution submitted by Councilor Gailanne Cariddi supporting Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and its new science center.

►Referred a communication from Councilor Gailanne Cariddi about four traffic concerns to the Traffic Commission: Signage to alert tract or-trailers and buses that there is no access to Route 2 from Rosenthal Square (they get stuck on High Street); speeding on North Street; heavy truck traffic on Patterson and Notch roads; lights switching too fast for pedestrians at Ashland Street and American Legion Drive and near St. Joseph's Court. Councilor Keith Bona asked that lack of signage on Holden Street indicating righthand-only turns onto Main Street be added. The Traffic Commission will not meet until June because of a lack of quorum.

► Heard updates on its Sister City of Tremosine, Italy, from Dr. John Moresi and on the upcoming 20th anniversary of the LaFesta Baseball Exchange with Boston's North End by coach George Canales.
State of the City and Budget Council Presentation

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Your Comments

iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.

I can understand that the past administration has put the current administration in a tough bind, but what I don't understand is how the councilors at the time (Bloom and Alcombright included) had no idea that this was happening. How come they are not taking any of the blame for not pressuring Barrett to give them the information that they needed to insure that NA was being run properly. This situation is just as much of a reflection on each councilor who served during the Barrett administration as it is on Barrett himself. Stand up and take your share of the blame. That's what leaders do!!
from: NA Resident	on: 05-12-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Sorry, Mr. Mayor. You lose on this one. As Barrett rightly predicted, you'll sell the city down the river so that you can provide nice little raises for the unions and no layoffs for them. Love to help, but hey, we in the dreaded private sector have had to live with NO raises and many pay cuts and cost increases these past two years. Time for the teachers and cops and firefighters to do the same. NO on an override. And if the council goes ahead with Plan B, to raise water fees so high we'll all drown in them, then a year from now it will be time for us to all consider an entirely new council. Stand up for the blue collar worker who's had it tough enough and tell the government to keep their hands out of our wallets.
from: Nope	on: 05-12-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

the so called house of cards was held together by a very capable and at times ingenious administrator. barrett is constantly being blamed for this issue but he made it work. the new mayor cannot. his first step as mayor was to capitulate to the unions that supported him. his second step was to blame the previous administration for all his problems-- pronblems that were articulated during the debates. his answer during the debates was we will form a committee to fix it. he now has to fix it and he is abstaining from true leadership and simply offering as an answer new and exorbitant taxes to fix the problem. where is the creativity that was supposed to be a major part of this administration. where also was the chair of the finance committee when the house of cards was being built.
from: home owner	on: 05-12-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

No one in the unions are getting any raises. You can pretend that they are all you want... that won't make it true. Our city has slowly been crumbling around us for the last 10 years. The former administration routinely used cash account's to pay reoccurring fees. It just doesn't work. If you pay your rent or mortgage every month out of your savings account, sooner or later you will run out of money. We have run out of money. I am a property owner in this city. My taxes are going to go up too. That sucks, and I really don't want them to. But the fact is, we have no choice. If we care about this city in ANY way whatsoever, we will do what it takes to fix this problem and get us back on solid ground. Remember folks, if we just raise taxes and fees our tax bill will go up an average of $27 a month... but the proposition 2 1/2 override will only be $33. And it will FIX the problem as opposed to putting a band aide on a bullet wound. If we as a city force our mayor to again use cash accounts to pay the bills, we will be in the EXACT SAME POSITION NEXT YEAR... except we won't have any cash to get us out of it. People say we should cut to take care of this problem: this budget already includes over $700,000 in cuts. Can we afford any more? Can we afford less police officers (crime rates continue to climb), less DPW workers (potholes and water main breaks anyone?), less teachers (the schools are already having a difficult time the way it is). We have cut to the bone, the only next step is to start cutting off limbs... I will NOT be part of that. I love this city, and I want to fix it. It just needs to get done.
from: resident	on: 05-12-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Send a message loud and clear, voters. All of the city's unions are up for new contracts this year. Time to tell the Mayor that there will be NO salary increases whatsoever in any of those contracts if he wants support for an override. Time for the unions to share the same pain the rest of us have had since 2008. They've all had raises each of the last two years, small, but raises nonetheless. Most people I know who work in business have had none or have been laid off or seen their hours cut. I'll support an override, but only once I see NO raises for the unions. That means zip, none, goose egg, nada, not even a cost of living adjustment.
from: Send a Message	on: 05-12-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Dear "resident," I'm so happy you seem to live in a world clouded by brightly colored skies where the unions agree to no raises. Now, take off the looney tunes glasses and accept reality. The police union declined a 3% raise each year for three years under Barrett late last year. They said they would not accept such a small increase and Alcombright would do better. These are facts, not the made up stuff you seem to live on. More facts... our teachers make an average of 58 thousand a year (it's on a state web site). The year before they made an average of 54 thousand. Only "public" employees think that no matter what the economy is like, you get a raise and NO layoffs. Sorry, every private sector company has had to make tough choices - layoffs, cuts in pay, cuts in benefits. Time for the payroll patriots to do the same. You want to keep all the teachers? Their next contract should have a pay CUT in it, so they can see what me and every other private sector person has gone through for two years. Same with the cops. By the way, none of these people pay into social security, and ALL get pensions. My 401K has taken a huge beating, no guarantee for my retirement. They have one. Cry me a river, Resident, and start to see the facts.
from: Nope	on: 05-12-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

What, exactly, is the function of the Finance Committe and, specifically, of the Finance Committee Chairperson??? Where can we find out? Shame on the previous Council for not doing their homework.
from: Curious	on: 05-12-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

North Adams was run just fine for the past quarter of a century. The only difference between then and now? Barrett had the backbone to say, "No!" Time for our new mayor to step up to the plate.
from: Barrett did the right thing	on: 05-12-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

okay, reading down the comments it sounds like people want to blame the unions...no raises for teachers...okay. but you're forgetting that when money is cut from the school budget our students are suffering. larger class sizes, less support staff such as sped teachers, school adjustment counselors, no money for current materials, etc. are you forgetting our schools need to be strong for our future? please also get your facts straight before saying there's been no lay offs in the schools. our school teachers make less than any teachers in the state...check that fact. luckily, we have many veteran teachers who are invested in this community and love teaching...and work their tails off...just visit a school in the city. but remember this...you get what you pay for and when many teachers are eligible to retire in the next 5 years or so how appealing will our school district be to the "cream of the crop" teachers? think about that when you don't want to give teachers raises. yes, i teach in this city, live in this city and my children go to n. adams schools.
from: think about it	on: 05-12-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

to Nope: What you fail to mention in your fantastic teacher stats is that from FY04 to FY 09 we went from 242 to 145 teachers. 40% cut. Are there 40% less kids? nope. Who gets cut? Teachers' aides. The lower salaries, and easiest to cut. This not only skews the averages, it puts an amazing burden on the teachers, and raises the number of kids per teacher (not the best idea in under performing schools, eh). Please do AT LEAST cursory research before throwing out numbers out of context that you don't even understand. And you refuse to acknowledge the fact that our teachers make less (and pay more for insurance) than ANYWHERE in the area... and yet you propose a pay CUT. I think you need to double check your looney tune glasses sir. There is no way we can continue underpaying our employees and expect a well run city... let alone cutting pay On to the police, I have no idea if that's true... it doesn't matter. They ain't getting raises. It's not going to happen. All the unions have already been told that. They can whine all they want, but it's not happening. They know that. They should have taken the 3% when they had the chance.
from: resident	on: 05-12-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Sorry resident, you're the one with the skewed facts. You claim that North Adams teachers are the lowest paid in the area. Yet the state statistics show they make MORE than teachers in Adams-Cheshire and Pittsfield, to name a few. And by cutting out the aides salaries, as you mentioned, the average stat now actually shows us what a "real" teacher makes, without tossing in a bunch of lower salaries to skew the data lower. It doesn't matter how many teachers there are now. Those teachers make an average salary of $58,475, and that was for 2008. They have received raises since. Pittsfield teachers average salary is $51,351. Adams-Cheshire is $56,912. Until I hear the Mayor come out and proclaim that he will not approve ANY raises for ANY public employee unions, I will NOT vote in favor an override. You can claim all you want that there are no raises. I want proof. I've shown you the proof in the average salary area. The data can be found at: http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/state_report/teachersalaries.aspx Now, show me your proof that no one gets a raise this year or next.
from: Nope	on: 05-12-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

I know where the data is, I'm quoting the exact same numbers. My point was that looking at the average does us no good as, unlike the other communities in our county, we cut 40% of our lowest paid teachers in the past 5 years. You may disagree, but I find nothing wrong with a teacher that has a Masters and 30yrs of experience making $60,000/yr. They should be. If we look at pay for experience level, NA schools under pay their staffs. Starting Teacher salary in NA is nearly $4,000 less than the county average. How are we supposed to attract new, good teachers? I know we are in a bind, and this is going to hurt... but trying to cut teacher salaries is just about the worst thing we can do to solve this problem.
from: resident	on: 05-13-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Dear resident, I never said the teachers don't deserve what they earn. I only pointed out that $60,000 is a pretty good income, especially in a time of economic recession, and at a time when the majority of taxpayers are hurting financially, it's not time to ask for more money from them to pay someone earning 60 grand even more. I will support the override... but only when and if the Mayor announces he has concessions from the unions stating they will not be given any pay raises this year or next. People in the private sector have gone without raises for two years now, and you can't ask them to foot an additional tax burden unless it's truly shared pain. If a teacher is given even a $1,000 raise, which would be small for someone earning that average, they can easily take $300 out and pay their extra tax burden. When someone has been laid off or hasn't had a raise in two years, like me, I don't have that extra $300 handy. But I'll find it if the unions do their part and share my pain.
from: Nope	on: 05-13-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

I and many of my friends were completly disgusted with Councilor Bloom at Tuesday's Council meeting. How many years has he been on the council? Too many not to know what's going on. The same with the new mayor, whom I believe was part of the Finance Committee. The main thing that I don't understand is how the first 3 months of this administration got away with a few important things. For instance, the Mayor's secretary. The Mayor said that she was being paid for all her experience and knowledge. From what I understand, she was a glorified taxi dispatcher. She was employed at a starting salary in the $40,000's. John Barrett's secretary retired at the same amount after 22 years of service. He hired 4 new police officers and fireman. Where did all this money come from. He caved into the unions almost immediately after taking office and gave them what they wanted. Now, he wants a Prop 2 1/2 override? This mayor and the city council, part of which was in control with the last administration, are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the citizens of this fine city. Dick talked about the decaying infrastructure and that nothing was being done for the city. People, open your eye's. Mayor Barrett did more for this city in his tenure than almost any other Mayor in our History. Look around this city. The evidence is everywhere. Editor: The police and firefighters were either replacements for retirees (at a lower cost) or paid by grants and stimulus funds.
from: NA Born	on: 05-14-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

I would be very curious to know how the proposed new fees and tax rate stack up against other MA communities. Especially ones that are similar in size and demographics. Maybe iBerkshires could track this down and publish it? Editor: We'll see what we can do. It's tough finding the right comparison - we're the smallest city and comparable towns are closer to Boston, usually making them higher in costs. Using closer communities skews in terms of size, but is probably more pertinent since if you don't live here, you probably live there.
from: Jon	on: 05-16-2010 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

MCLA Graduates Told to Make the World Worthy of Them

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
05:27PM / Saturday, May 16, 2026

Keynote speaker Michael Bobbitt was awarded an honorary doctor of fine arts. He told the graduates to make the world worthy of them. See more photos here.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Amsler Campus Center gym erupted in cheers on Saturday as 193 members of class of 2026 turned their tassels.

The graduates of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' 127th commencement were sent off with the charge of "don't stop now" to make the world a better place.

You are Trailblazers, keynote speaker Michael Bobbitt reminded them, and a "trailblazer is not simply someone who walks a path. A trailblazer makes one, but blazing a trail does not happen alone. Every trailblazer is carrying tools made by somebody else. Every trailblazer is guided by stars they did not create. Every trailblazer stands on grounds shaped by ancestors, teachers, workers, neighbors, friends, and strangers."

Trailblazing takes communal courage, he said, and they needed to love people, build with people, argue with people, and find the people who make them braver and kinder at the same time.

"The future will not be saved by isolated geniuses, it will be saved by networks of people willing to practice courage together. The future belongs not to the loudest, not to the richest, not to the most certain, but to the most adaptive, the most creative, the most courageous, the most willing to learn."

Bobbitt was recently named CEO of Opera American after nearly five years leading the Massachusetts Cultural Council. He stressed the importance of art to the graduates, and noted that opera is not the only art form facing challenges in this world.

"Every field is asking, who are we for now? What do we, what value do we create?" he said. "What do we stop pretending is fine. This is not just an arts question, that is a healthcare question, a climate question, a technology question, a community question, a higher education question, a democracy question, a life question. ...

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