As override vote looms, all agree cuts are coming

Finance specialist Vince McGugan said he opposes anything bigger than a $3.6 million override. (Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe)

There will be cuts in Brookline; the argument is over how to make them.

Heading into Tuesday's vote on whether to raise property taxes, proponents are saying that approval would give the town enough breathing room to cut costs without precipitous layoffs. Opponents are saying that by adding spending now, the town would increase the danger of bigger bloodshed later, especially with a slowing economy.

The lively interest around town reflects the fact that this will be the first time since 1994 that Brookline residents will vote on a general override of Proposition 2 1/2, a state law that limits a community's annual increase in property taxes to 2 1/2 percent, plus revenue from new growth. (Voters approved a limited override in 1995 to pay for the high school's renovation.)

For years, Brookline managed to avoid property-tax increases beyond the 2.5 percent limit by tightly controling spending, and implementing such steps as a "no new hire" policy, outsourcing or combining services, and trimming staff. The town's finances also benefited from growth and hotel room taxes from a new hotel in Coolidge Corner.

But savings from these types of maneuvers are drying up, and officials are coming to grips with trends taking place in communities across the state.

Costs - particularly benefits - are growing faster than revenues, said Michael Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, while state aid hasn't kept up with inflation.

"Most cities and towns have squeezed where they can, and then some," he said. "I think we will see more and more communities hit the wall in the years ahead."

That means, he said, that "even wealthier communities will turn down overrides" as residents can't afford to pay any additional taxes.

Barbara Anderson, with Citizens for Limited Taxation, said she thinks residents should vote down all overrides this year.

"When we created Proposition 2 1/2, it never occurred to us that people would vote overrides for pay raises and extraordinary benefits," she said. Municipal administrators need to take a harder line with their unions, Anderson believes, and the state should help by easing the way into the state health insurance plan and state pension plan for municipal workers.

Widmer agrees that getting town employees on state insurance and pensions will be key, although, unlike Anderson, he does not believe there's much waste left to be squeezed out of most cities and towns. But he also believes the state may have to raise significant taxes - income or sales - to help municipalities lower property-tax burdens.

Brookline's voters will have the option of raising taxes by $5.4 million, by $6.2 million, or not at all. Approval of the higher amount would increase taxes by $385 a year on the median-value single-family home in Brookline, and $118 on a median-value condominium, according to the town administrator's office. About $3.6 million of the total would be used to cover the budget deficit for the 2009 fiscal year, which begins July 1, and perform various deferred maintenance projects. The $5.4 million tab would also pay for a longer school day, and the $6.2 million amount would add world language instruction in the elementary schools.

A range of viewpoints were represented in the participants at the League of Women Voters' debate on Monday: Roger Blood, with the Coalition Against Unfair Taxation and a longtime town volunteer and Housing Advisory Board member; Kevin Lang, chairman of Boston University's economics department and Brookline School Committee member, who also studied town finances in 1993; finance specialist Vince McGugan, an Override Study Committee member who opposed any increase beyond $3.6 million; and municipal planner Bill Schwartz, another override committee member, who favored the $6.2 million option.

Blood joined McGugan in supporting a $3.6 million override that would cover just the deficit and deferred maintenance. But Schwartz and Lang said that the ballot was set, and that a vote on the smaller amount would require an expensive special election.

A major point of contention is the cost of lengthening the school day. McGugan and Blood suggested that a longer day would widen the budget deficit in future years.

Lang disagreed. The override proposals include a negotiated pay raise for teachers who would have to work longer hours, but it would not increase staffing. "It's cheaper to extend instructional time now" without extra hires, Lang said. "It's the only fiscally prudent alternative."

Lang cited an April 16 visit from state Department of Education officials who said that the current, shorter-than-normal day at Brookline High School violated state regulations, and would have to be addressed "whether or not your override passes."

Without an override, Lang said, the agreement with teachers to work longer hours would be invalid, so new hires would be needed, adding their benefits to future budgets. That would require about $1 million in cuts in other parts of the school budget, without gaining as much: longer middle school hours, less hectic elementary school days, and competitive teacher salaries.

He added that at least 40 school employees have already received notices that they would lose their jobs if voters reject the overrides. Immediately after a defeat of the overrides, he said, these people would begin looking for other jobs and couldn't be quickly replaced even if, as opponents have suggested, a smaller override was passed this summer.

McGugan argued that the schools can probably find the money in one line item or another, given that $1 million is a small percentage of the district's $60 million--plus budget for next fiscal year.

"I'm troubled to have heard so much about meeting this requirement only after the Override Study Committee report was issued," he said.

Blood contended that "politics went to work" after the study committee's report, that "scare tactics" were needed to get desired additional programs, and that proponents didn't think that voters would support the programs "on their merits."

All agreed, however, that even with a tax increase, Brookline will face a $2 million deficit in each of the coming years if costs continue to outpace revenues. They also agreed that town officials would have to work fast and make tough decisions to avoid future cuts in services: joining the state health insurance plan, reining in substitute costs and sick-time use, and cutting down on the number of part-timers with benefits.

On the revenue side, the town would still need to pursue development, and the state would need to help municipalities with local option taxes and other programs.

"We cannot solve this problem on our own," Schwartz said.