DeLeo hoping for no more cuts in state aid

REVERE-State Rep. Robert DeLeo is holding out hope the state and, by extension, cities and towns can avoid end of the year spending cuts.DeLeo, who represents Revere and is one of the Legislature?s top budget makers, said revised state spending calculations may make earlier predicted December or January cuts unnecessary.?We hope cuts we made can carry us through the rest of the fiscal year. If we can keep our head above water we?ll be OK,” he said.Gov. Deval Patrick announced hundreds of millions in state budget cuts last month in response to state revenue drops and warned other cuts – including reductions in vital state aid to communities – might be necessary.DeLeo and other state officials breathed a little easier last week after voters defeated referendum Question 1 last Tuesday. The ballot proposal asked voters to eliminate the state income tax. Proponents said it would reduce wasteful spending while opponents said it would eliminate services and shrink assistance to communities.Mayor Thomas Ambrosino in a Nov. 1 budget meeting estimated the city would lose $640,000 in aid at the end of the year if Question 1 passed.Despite its defeat and DeLeo?s guarded optimism, he is still preparing for reduced city spending through the next year.He is not filling jobs left vacant by retiring city employees in an effort to absorb spending cuts that could be triggered by the state?s worsening financial health.Economists warned DeLeo and other legislators in October that Massachusetts could be in for three years of sparse budgets. Employment levels and capital gains revenues are likely to decline, the economists said, but both at unknowable rates.The prospect of prolonged spending reductions worries School Superintendent Paul Dakin who has repeatedly warned that without an increase of $6.5 million next year, Revere may have to follow Lynn?s lead and close schools.Dakin has followed Ambrosino?s lead and left several school jobs vacated by retirements empty. He has also ordered school employees to initiate energy savings.