Any ideas? Higgins details budget gap for finance panel

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - The mayor presented the Finance Committee with an outline Wednesday night of an anticipated $6.1 million budget gap for fiscal 2010 and asked for their advice and that of the public in deciding where to cut costs.

Mayor Clare Higgins said the budget presentation, which detailed where the city's money comes from and where and how it is spent, will be repeated to other city departments and at internal meetings over the course of the next few weeks. It can also be viewed on the city's Web site.

Although she recognized that closing the gap will likely require cutting numerous jobs across the city, Higgins said she will look to stave off those losses by shaving other parts of the budget.

"I am sending out letters tomorrow to nonrepresented city employees letting them know that the city will be freezing wages for a year," she said. "I don't want to lay people off; my goal is to lay off as few people as possible."

Committee member David A. Murphy said he was in favor of freezing wages rather than cutting city jobs because he thought releasing current employees would leave them looking for jobs in a state where the majority of municipalities are cutting back.

"Anybody that we lay off here from our city government is just going to be another person on the street looking for work in a job market where they are not going to find one," Higgins agreed. "Many of our people are very highly trained and we have invested a lot of money into getting them trained and I'm not particularly interested in wasting that money by laying them off."

While she has said in the past that if the budget gap were to be bridged strictly by laying off city employees, the city would have to cut approximately 100 jobs, Higgins told committee members that she expects the end result to be a combination of staff reductions and departmental cuts.

"Our big challenges are that our state aid has been cut by $530,000 for this year and next year we are looking at a state aid cut of about $1.5 million," said Higgins. "Our excise tax revenue has gone down considerably, our negotiated contracts are up $1.2 million and what we pay for health insurance is up $1.8 million."

Higgins said state and federal aid may come in the form of a statewide meals tax, local option meals tax or a tax increase for staying at a hotel or motel, but she said she is skeptical about whether they are options the city can depend on. In her presentation, she listed freezing wages for all nonrepresented city employees, soliciting alternative bids for health insurance, further consolidating city departments and the possibility of a Proposition 2½ override among potential solutions.

"There has been a discussion about overrides, but without significant trimming on our side I am not even going to go to the voters to ask for an override. I think voters have a right to vote on whether their services are going to be cut anymore, and I am open to any other ideas. Right now no idea is off the table," Higgins said.

Residents interesting in viewing the entire presentation are encouraged to visit www.northamptonma.gov/fy2010 and email any questions, comments or ideas to mayor@northamptonma.gov.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.