State aid in doubt; consequences may jar Saugus

SAUGUS – After more than a year of juggling the Kasabuski Arena deficit, Town Manager Andrew Bisignani thought he might have a chance to relax before the next financial crisis came along, but that didn’t happen.Bisignani had less than a 24-hour turnaround between settling the Kasa-buski issue and the state anno-uncement that it was going to have to borrow $1.3 billion to fund local aid.”We’ve barely achieved a level of stability and now our budgeted revenues are in doubt,” he said. “It’s upsetting and it’s frustrating.”Last week, Bisignani met briefly with members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union (AFSCME) regarding contract negotiations. He said he’s also met with the Police Department’s Superior Officers, and the patrolmen’s union has said it would like to open negotiations.”The problem is I have absolutely nothing to give them,” he said.Bisignani said had the state not made its announcement regarding its shortfall, things might have been different.”I was hoping to have a period of time to pull ourselves together,” he said. “We’re just not getting any breathing room.”If the state honors its commitment and pays what it promised in local aid, Bisignani said the town should be fine through 2009.”We haven’t inflated any of our revenues, and we’ll have very small free cash surplus this year,” he said.There is also a healthy surplus in the town’s water and sewer accounts, which will allow town officials to freeze rate increases for another year.”The only outstanding issue is the deficit with Kasabuski (Arena) and we will raise that in 2009,” he said. “What scares me is FY ’10 and what that will bring.”Bisignani said if the state is threatening to cut local aid three months into fiscal 2009, it does not look good for 2010. If state aid goes south, Bisignani said earmarks or funding set aside for specific programs would go with it. That will be bad news for the Youth and Recreation Department and the Senior Center, both which are funded through earmarks. He said it could also impact Community Policing and Drug Prevention grants that are also funded with earmarks.In the five years Bisignani has served the town, he said he has yet to be able to take a financial breather.”I walked in facing (state) cuts in 2003 that wiped out positions and came with layoffs,” he said. “We took a few baby steps forward and they knock us back.”Bisignani said while the town has maintained services, he said it hasn’t been easy and he doesn’t expect it to get any easier.”Just when the ship starts to right itself . . . its tipped upside down,” he said.