In Stoneham, uncertainty adds to pain of budget cuts
When Stoneham voters gather tomorrow for the annual Town Meeting, they will face some tough choices in yet another lean budget year.
The Stoneham Public Library's fate is up for consideration. Also, more than 15 teaching positions and the high school athletic program hang in the balance.
Last year the town of just over 21,000 made news when it threatened to cut its sports teams. The teams were eventually saved, but the town finances have not improved and the favorite town programs are back on the chopping block. The crunch this year even threatens the accreditation of the high school and library.
"There is only so much money available," Selectman R. Paul Rotondi said last week. "They're all painful cuts, and we can't cut police and fire any more."
The prognosis is better than it had been earlier in the year when officials threatened to close the library and the schools faced a $1.5 million budget shortfall. Additional state aid came through, but school and library supporters are uncertain about the future.
"It varies from day to day," library director Mary Todd said. "I don't think anyone is going to know for sure until Monday night, and maybe not even then."
The library faces some hope in an unorthodox article on the Town Meeting warrant: a proposal to raid the town's rainy day reserves for $350,000 to keep the library at state-mandated funding levels.
The school budget, however, might not be clarified until later this summer. The approximately $488,000 gap in the budget could be covered by a trash fee levied on each household.
If the trash fee is adopted by selectmen as it has been in in past years, a fee of $170 could generate an additional $1 million in revenues for the town.
That could bring the library up to the level it needs to keep state certification without the special article, save some of the teaching spots, and preserve the school sports teams.
But the Board of Selectmen voted this year not to approve the fee unless the town's unions join a state insurance pool to reduce town expenses.
Last week, the unions met to discuss the insurance issues, but Rotondi said the unions probably would not be able to make a decision before Monday's Town Meeting. That could postpone any real clarity on the town's finances into the summer, possibly forcing the need for another Town Meeting.
For the staff at the library, all the uncertainty has been stressful, said Todd. Already the library has lost its children's librarian to another job and other staffers are considering retiring.
"At this point, everyone just wants it over because it's been torture," Todd said.
If the library does not receive additional money through the special article or a share of trash fee revenue, Todd said, it would need to slash its hours from 51 a week to about 30. Its entire new book budget would fall to $11,500, she said, less than what it paid for children's books this year.
And, most significantly, such loses would end its state funding and accreditation. That would end the library's connection to other communities. Residents would be unable borrow books from other public libraries or request them through the interlibrary loan system.
The Town Meeting article, proposed by library supporters, would give the library enough money to keep state funding but still fall short of this year's budget levels.
The proposal faces some criticism, with library supporters accused of raiding money needed for other parts of town. The Finance and Advisory Board has opposed the measure and called for it to be indefinitely postponed.
Rotondi agrees. "That's a very dangerous precedent to start," he said. "The budget is supposed to be argued within the budget, not separate articles."
It could also be challenging to pass as it needs two-thirds of the votes.
The schools, meanwhile, have already raised the athletic fee from $250 to $300 per student per semester, said Superintendent Les Olson. And the School Committee agreed to cut the budget by about $847,000, trimming capital expenses and classroom spending, plus getting rid of more than five positions.
"There seems to be nothing left on the table," Olson said. "It's down to teachers and athletics."
Without money from a trash fee, he estimates, the schools would need to cut up to 15 additional teaching spots, the athletic program, or a combination of the two.
The town is already cinching its belt in other ways this year. It recently started a downtown parking program that raises money through permits and tickets. The Town Meeting warrant also proposes reducing town costs by leasing out the Stoneham Arena ice rink and handing over management of its Senior Center to a nonprofit agency.
Even with the uncertainty that Town Meeting can resolve the budget debacle, town officials expect many voters to turn out to vote.
The discussion will likely continue into a second night, said Town Clerk John Hanright.
The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in Town Hall. If the items are not finished that night, it will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Kytja Weir can be reached at kytja.weir@gmail.com.
