Clancy foresees ‘devastating’ budget cuts

LYNN – Even in a best-case scenario – a “no” vote on Question 1 in November and an economic boost that helps the state avoid 9C cuts – the School Department budget will be in trouble, Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. warned Thursday.Clancy tossed out a flurry of pessimistic adjectives while discussing the budget at Thursday’s School Committee meeting, predicting that 9C would bring on “devastating” cuts and even if things go well the city’s wallet would be “hemorrhaging.”Question 1 on the November ballot seeks to abolish the state income tax and Section 9C of the Massachusetts General Laws governs state finances and deals with revenue deficiencies. It details what authority the governor has over actions taken to balance the budget when revenues fall short of spending.Clancy said if voters abolish the income tax by voting “yes” on Question 1 Nov. 4, Lynn might as well “close up shop” because the city is “out of business.”To make matters worse, Clancy told the committee, even if the city can move forward with its current spending plan, changes in the economy could cost the city money in the 2010 budget as well.”Even without the 9C cuts and the passage of Question 1, this particular budget across the city will be hemorrhaging,” he said. “There are going to be some very unpleasant matters that come up here.”Because of increase in cost and a decrease in revenue, Clancy predicted that the School Department would need an additional $4 million in 2010. The 2009 budget may be in trouble, too, as Clancy told the School Committee that the department was as “optimistic as possible” when drafting the plan last spring, but a “freefall” has left the entire nation in “economic stagnation.”Clancy vowed that the city would continue to offer sports and other activities at schools free of user fees, but asked the committee to begin brainstorming other money-saving solutions.”This is not to scare anybody, just to let everybody know where we are and if anybody has any ideas to share, please bring them to us,” he said. “To continue the classroom services as it is, you are going to have to somehow, in a major way, reduce what you are paying for other services.”While discussing Question 1, Clancy provided a two-page list of estimated cuts if the income tax were eliminated, outlining a complete massacre of the city’s public services.Along with an estimated $7.5 million in Chapter 70 aid that would be missing from the schools, the figures predict 65 percent cuts in public safety, road and bridge construction and school repair funding, and an overall cut of $16 million from the city’s full budget.”People need to understand this. I always hear that the property tax will skyrocket (if Question 1 passes) but I disagree with that because they are limited by 2.5 percent of new growth,” he said. “That is not going to be $4 million. Services are going to be cut because we don’t have the ability in the government to raise property taxes for revenue.”While Clancy was hopeful that Question 1 would fail, he was less optimistic about 9C cuts, last seen in the state under Gov. Mitt Romney in 2003.”Deval Patrick is not Mitt Romney or Paul Cellucci, so when a democratic governor announces he is going to bring forward cuts in the executive agency, for someone who has the background that he has, it is a harbinger of bad things to come,” he said. “This could be devastating. When there are things being cut mid-year everything is doubled. Five or six years ago when I was faced with these things I did other things to bring in revenue. I know of nothing that can be addressed to lessen the impact on personnel and services this time.”School Business Administrator Kevin McHugh predicted that 9C cuts could come in late October, and said it is his sense that people at the state level “believe it is coming.”