State spending cuts prompt Revere finance summit

REVERE – Mayor Thomas Ambrosino is not filling jobs left vacant by retiring city employees in anticipation of spending cuts necessitated by the state’s worsening financial health.He told City Councilors state cuts in local aid to communities are likely next year, even as early as December.Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi on Tuesday called cuts in state spending on local schools and other services a “last resort,” but added, “I think municipalities across Massachusetts should be concerned.”Local state Rep. Robert DeLeo said economists Tuesday warned of three years of sparse budgets. Employment levels and capital gains revenues are likely to decline, economists said, but both at unknowable rates.Gov. Deval Patrick is preparing “hundreds of millions” in midyear budget cuts that will likely become public next week, after the state’s fiscal 2009 revenue estimate is lowered.Ambrosino is waiting to see how those cuts impact the amount of money the city receives from the state to help pay school costs and other expenses.”We’re starting to prepare for how we will react. It will all depend on the number,” he said.The prospect of spending cuts that could span two, even three years, is bad news to School Superintendent Paul Dakin. He has warned repeatedly that without an increase of $6.5 million next year, Revere may have to follow Lynn’s lead and close schools.Worried councilors have tentatively scheduled a 9 a.m. emergency financial summit on Oct. 25 in the City Council Chamber to, in the words of Council President George Colella’s motion proposing the meeting, “discuss what steps the city may have to take to respond to the financial crisis.”Revere and other cities last saw local aid cuts in 2003 when former Gov. Mitt Romney ordered them made.