Swampscott braces for fiscal hit

SWAMPSCOTT – Town officials are already bracing for the wave of budget cuts Gov. Deval Patrick announced late Wednesday afternoon.According to the state revenue department, tax collections fell $223 million short during the first quarter. Patrick unveiled cuts Wednesday evening, but pledged not to cut local aid or local school funding. However, that is little consolation to Swampscott officials.Town Administrator Andrew Maylor, who had not seen the detailed cuts, said he participated in a conference call with Lt. Gov. Tim Murray and 30 other town officials from across the state late Tuesday afternoon and the news was not good.”He assured us the core parts of local aid will not be touched – at least for now,” Maylor said. “I interpret that to mean Chapter 70 money, lottery revenue and additional assistance.”Maylor said the town receives $4.8 million in core local aid from the state but he added many of the funds the town receives are not part of core local aid and could be impacted.Maylor said he believes community policing grants, all day kindergarten grants, Council on Aging grants, library funding and SPED circuit breaker monies could all be impacted by the cuts Patrick made in the state budget.Maylor said the town could lose up to $300,000 in Special Education circuit breaker monies and $100,000 for all-day kindergarten grants.School Committee Chairman David Whelan said any cuts would be devastating to the district.”Personally I view the (SPED) circuit breaker as local aid,” he said. “I think the state is playing a shell game. I don’t know what we will do if we lose $400,000 in funding. I hate to make changes mid-year but it may be necessary. We may have to re-evaluate all-day kindergarten.”Maylor said he expects the state to cut $47,000 for community policing, $20,000 for the Council on Aging and money for library aid.”I think we are looking at losing half a million dollars in anticipated funding,” he said. “We will have to find a way to fill in the gaps between now and the end of the year.”Maylor explained the cuts Patrick made Wednesday evening were for Fiscal 2009, which started July 1.Police Chief Ronald Madigan said the loss of community police funds would have a huge impact on the department and community.”Some of the initiatives we’ve used this money for are bike patrols, enhancing pedestrian safety and other initiatives that increase our visibility in the community,” he said. “We had planned to use some of this grant money to train everyone in the use of portable breath testers and to get live scan fingerprint technology.”Maylor said he wouldn’t be surprised if the $150,000 the town is supposed to receive from the state for improvements to the Humphrey Street corridor was cut from the budget.As bad as the mid-year cuts are, Whelan added he is even more concerned about next year.”We already knew we were in trouble,” he said. “The bigger issue is I don’t know how we can get through next year. Next year is going to be a heck of a lot worse.”