Menino freezes hiring by city

Urges approval of developments to bring new jobs

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, after saying for weeks that Boston's financial situation was holding strong amid the tumults of the economic crisis, instituted a city hiring freeze yesterday and announced several other measures designed to keep city services intact amid shrinking investment revenues and cuts in state grants to city programs.

Menino predicted the city may be forced to postpone as much as $120 million worth of capital improvement projects, including maintenance and repairs of playgrounds, parks, sidewalks, streets, and schools. In addition, the mayor said he's not sure whether the city will be able to replace some $3 million in state grant funding that had been earmarked for community policing and firefighter training, so those programs may also be scaled back.

"City government is tightening its belt just like families across our city," Menino said. "This is the beginning, as I look at it. What it's going to mean is we're going to have to work smarter and more efficiently."

The mayor said he doesn't believe the shortfalls will require layoffs, but the loss of community policing money could mean fewer new police recruits in a training class scheduled to begin in December.

Interest revenue from city investments has fallen roughly $16 million short of projections so far this year. The mayor said he expects that shortfall to deepen in the coming months, and he predicted more cuts in state funding. State aid currently accounts for 21 percent of the city's $2.4 billion operating budget.

Menino also took steps he hopes will inject money into the local economy. He urged the Boston Redevelopment Authority to push through final approvals for imminent development projects in the city, a request he hasn't made since the period immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

BRA officials said they immediately identified five developments that collectively are projected to pump $1.9 billion into the economy and create 5,200 jobs. Among them are a proposed office tower behind South Station, a 30-story residential building on Exeter Street in the Back Bay, and a 12-story shopping and residential building near Downtown Crossing.

On Wednesday, Governor Deval Patrick announced more than $1 billion in state budget cuts, the worst single round of midyear budget rollbacks in state history.

The city is expected to be directly affected by only $5 million of those cuts, including $2.1 million for firefighter training, $700,000 for special needs education, $300,000 for upgrading a South Boston community center, and $870,000 for community policing programs.

Lisa Signori, the mayor's Cabinet chief for administration and finance, said yesterday that the mayor and top aides plan to meet this morning to discuss ways to shore up those programs. In addition, she said, decisions will have to be made about which capital improvement projects can go forward. Projects on the city's roster range from repairs and maintenance of city properties to the mayor's plans to construct a City Hall on the South Boston Waterfront.

"We need to now basically reassess and reevaluate our priorities," she said. "Obviously, life-safety projects will have to go forward."

Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said last night that the losses in community policing grants will hurt the department, but not devastate it. He said no police officers will be laid off.

"We can survive those cuts. It's not good, but it's not anything to panic about," he said.

Davis said the department will have to scale back some technology projects officials had planned in the next year. A plan to provide more distance learning for police officers will have to be delayed, as will a proposal to put more surveillance cameras in hot spots around the city.

The commissioner said he will scale back overtime, mostly for patrol officers who are sent to drive around areas that have recently experienced violence.

Davis hopes there will be no reduction of Safe Street teams, groups of six uniformed officers who patrol some of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods. The teams, a cornerstone of the department's community policing program, have been credited with helping to reduce violence in some parts of the city.

"The Safe Street teams are a very effective method," Davis said. "We're working very hard not to affect them."

The Police Department began trying to decrease spending before the governor's cuts, Davis said. For example, the department has reduced the number of take-home cars by 45 from its fleet of about 230, revoking take-home privileges for detectives working at headquarters in units like internal affairs, special investigations, and family services.

"We're making common-sense cuts," Davis said. "I think that there is a general uneasiness about the overall picture, the economic picture, with the volatility of the stock market on top of reductions in revenue. People are concerned that it may get worse before it gets better."

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.