Budget would trim jobs
School cuts likely without US funds
A $131.8 million budget submitted last week by Mayor Carlo DeMaria Jr. calls for eliminating 36 nonschool positions as Everett anticipates rising costs and a drop of more than $4 million in state funding.
All the cuts would be achieved by not filling jobs that recently became vacant, including those of 22 employees who accepted a city incentive to retire or resign by May 1.
The budget as submitted also called for 21 jobs, six of them firefighter positions, to be cut through layoffs originally set to take effect May 15. But DeMaria delayed the layoffs and asked the City Council to authorize using $947,701 from free cash reserves to restore funding for the jobs. The Common Council approved the request on Monday night, and the Board of Aldermen was set to take it up at a special meeting on Tuesday.
DeMaria said the layoffs would be "too much, too fast, and a little too deep" and affect the morale of the community.
Meanwhile, the School Committee on Monday approved a $48.8 million budget that would cut spending by $513,989 and eliminate 250 jobs, 190 of them teacher positions. School officials said the cuts would be needed for the school budget to stay within the figure set by the mayor, equal to the minimum spending amount for Everett schools set by the state.
But many of the targeted school jobs will be restored if Everett receives $3.8 million in anticipated federal stimulus money, according to Superintendent Frederick Foresteire. He said the district did not budget for the stimulus funds because they are not yet in hand.
"We can't budget what you don't have," he said, noting that applications have not even yet become available for the stimulus money.
The City Council's budget committee was set to begin its review of the overall budget on Tuesday.
The city hopes to have the budget finalized by the start of the new fiscal year, July 1.
"It's a lean budget," DeMaria said of his plan, pointing to the decline in state funding as the cause.
DeMaria said the state could help Everett and other communities by passing measures to better control costs, notably in healthcare. He said the city's fiscal constraints also could be eased by revenues from new development activity he hopes will occur this year.
City auditor Larry DeCoste said the proposed budget "cuts all discretionary spending" and provides no money for raises for nonunion personnel. Spending would decline overall by $1.3 million, or just under 1 percent, from this year's levels.
DeCoste said the city's budget constraints are largely the result of an anticipated $4.3 million decline in state funding, and a sharp rise in several fixed costs.
The drop in state funding includes an anticipated $3.2 million reduction in the city's two major nonschool local aid accounts; a loss of $555,000 in state funding for a police educational incentive program; and a $600,000 reduction in state reimbursements for charter school tuition.
On the expense side, the city has to absorb a $965,000, or 10 percent, increase in retirement costs; a $541,000, or 4 percent, increase in health costs; and a $788,000, or 8 percent, increase in water and sewer charges from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. 