City Budget Hearings Coming Up

This year, our State aid was cut by about $1 million and our health insurance costs are up by about $400,000. The inevitable result is that there are cuts to nearly every budget in the city.

This year's budget cuts about 15 teachers, 6 or 7 firefighter open positions and 6 police positions. Two part time positions in the library are cut.

The good news is that we are doing much better than the devastating cutbacks in some other cities. The primary reason for this is that we have been making cuts for several years. On the city side of the budget, we have cut 26% of our workforce in the past six years. Our salary account is down about $1.1 million in the past three years.

We were able to save about five (5) teaching positions by adopting a local option meals tax. We could save more positions if everyone agreed to sacrifice just a bit and go into the Value Options Health Care plan that I have proposed for city employees. This plan would increase cost of a copay for a doctor's visit to $15 per visit, it is $5 today. (There are more changes.) It is still a far better plan than is offered to most people in private industry and a better plan for employees than State employees now have.

The School budget hearing is Monday night. On the table are about 15 art and music jobs. We are expecting a big outcry to save the jobs, but there is no way to save them unless we get union concessions on health care, or we cut something else. Most of the school budget is salaries, so cutting something else inevitably means cutting people, and that probably means cutting teachers. The school committee has taken the position that it is better to have art and music one day a week than it is to further increase class size.

The city budget hearings are coming up later this week and next week. Some people are very upset that over 200 city employees have agreed to go into the new Value Options Health plan but no school department employees have agreed. I expect a very contentious hearing.

What do you think? What more should we do to cut costs, and bring in more revenues?

No Sort Recycling Going City Wide July 1

Our single stream recycling program goes city wide starting July 1. Whatever the day of your last recycling pickup in June, you can leave out all your recycling items that day-- plastics 1-7, paper, cardboard, bottles and cans. Please make certain that there is no food on the items.

This is made possible by a change in the contract with our waste hauler, Capital Waste. Capital agreed to do single stream recycling at no additional cost in exchange for a two year contract extension.

I have asked all the school kids in the city to be our "recycling ambassadors" and spread the word to their parents about this.