No layoffs foreseen in budget

Officials credit state funding

Spending an additional $5.4 million that councilors unanimously approved for ongoing Haverhill High School renovations will not affect the coming fiscal year's tight budget, according to city officials.

State funds now are expected to help the city avoid layoffs.

Earlier this year, Mayor James J. Fiorentini estimated the city - which already is short-staffed and operating some departments using volunteer help - was facing an almost $6 million decifit.

Council vice president Robert H. Scatamacchia said his board voted unanimously last month to fund additional renovations at the high school - the cost of which now totals $32.9 million - because the state is paying for two-thirds of the project, including $3.6 million of the latest increase. That leaves the city with a $1.8 million balance that Scatamacchia said will be bonded out.

Renovations have been ongoing at the high school, which serves almost 2,000 students in grades 9 through 12, for the past several years. Scatamacchia said offi cials decided to fund the project in phases after voters rejected a debt exclusion or override several years ago that would have paid for a more expensive project. Eventually, the city qualified for state reimbursement of a portion of the project.

Now, the recently approved funds will be used to update the high school's electrical system, buy lockers and floor tiles, and paint, landscape, and improve parking around the school.

"We don't have to start paying for it for two years, when the fiscal situation in the city should start to get a little bit easier for us," Scatamacchia said. "And it's really something we have to do. There was just no getting around it because of the fact that if we didn't upgrade the electrical system . . . the kids wouldn't be able to use computers.

"Today, if you don't have a computer, you'll have trouble."

Fiorentini said the council considered the added money for the high school at his recommendation. At first, he added, he wasn't sure the city could afford it.

"Fortunately for us, we don't have to start making payments in the coming budget year, which was a deciding factor for me," Fiorentini said Tuesday when reached by phone in Vero Beach, Fla. " It took a while to persuade me but I became convinced that this is not only good for the kids in our educational system, but also good for the image of the city."

Meanwhile, city officials are calculating the coming year's budget, and councilors are expecting to see a proposal in May.

"It will be a balanced budget. There will be no request for an override or a debt exclusion," Fiorentini said, adding it has already been determined this year's budget will include more money for public education and require no cuts in police.

The good news is due in part to an additional $2.4 million in state aid that has been promised to the city to help pay for debt incurred when Haverhill tried to make the old Hale Hospital attractive to prospective buyers. Sold in 2001, the building now operates as the Merrimack Valley Hospital.

Fiorentini announced news of the state aid in an e-mail newsletter earlier this month. He said state Representative Brian Dempsey was instrumental in procuring the funds.

"We haven't received the budget, and at least according to the mayor, he doesn't think we'll require any layoffs," Scatamacchia said.

Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com.