Lynn mayor, other officials waiting for the aid cut ax to fall

LYNN -It’s hold-your-breath-and-wait time for city and town officials facing cuts in state tax dollars that could trigger teacher layoffs, not to mention the loss of police officers and firefighters.
Faced with a $1.1 billion state budget shortfall, Gov. Deval Patrick plans to brief local officials today on how efforts to cover the gap will translate into reductions in aid to cities and towns.
An administration official briefed on the governor’s remarks reiterated Patrick’s pledge not to cut state education funding to cities and towns, but would not elaborate on potential cuts in state funding communities often use to pay police officers and firefighters.
Lynn Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. hopes that promise holds. He said he can maintain the currently balanced budget for local schools if the governor does not use 9C budget slashing powers granted to him by the Legislature to reduce aid to schools.
?I have no idea what he might be doing. We’re balanced across the board. 9C would upset that apple cart. I’m waiting with bated breath,” Clancy said Friday morning, adding he will attend a budget briefing sessions for mayors Saturday being led by Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray.
Revere School Superintendent Paul Dakin Thursday said he “will refuse to look deeper than a level funded budget” and said Revere schools need $5.8 million in added aid to maintain a level budget through the 2009-2010 school year.
?(2010) is an entirely different story,” warned Clancy in assessing the prospect of sufficient state aid to Lynn schools through next year.
Patrick is expected to announce the size of the police and fire cut within the next week.
Dakin may have to break his pledge because state spending officials are predicting a $3.1 billion state revenue shortfall for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Saugus Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said teacher layoffs are an inevitable result of any cuts in current state aid amounts to town schools.
He said Patrick warned municipal officials two weeks ago about the $1.1 billion deficit.
?I can’t see how Chapter 70 (school aid) is going to escape. It’s going to be devastating and it will mean lost teaching positions,” Bisignani said.
Patrick will address the 30th annual meeting of the Massachusetts Municipal Association today. The same group cheered him two years ago when he unveiled a so-called Municipal Partnership Act that proposed to help cities and towns by, among other things, giving them new tax power.
While the Legislature approved elements of the act, members resisted a proposal to make telecommunication companies pay the same taxes on their equipment that are paid by cable companies and other utilities. They also rejected a request to allow cities and towns to levy local meals and hotel/motel taxes.
The governor is expected to try to soften the blow of up to $500 million in cuts in local aid with a renewed push for the local taxing authority.
“All three are major priorities for our members,” said Geoff Beckwith, the MMA’s executive director.
Lawmakers now appear far more receptive to locally approved tax hikes than they were two years ago, especially after House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray said recently that all options must be considered as the state faces its worst economy since perhaps the Great Depression.
The MMA is expected to attract more than 1,000 members during its two-day conference. The members include city and town officials of all sizes, complexity and political stripe.
Beckwith said the members were especially concerned about a local aid cut because, after property taxes, it is one of their major revenue streams. Then-Gov. Mitt Romney cut $114 million in local aid amid a similar economic problem in 2003 and communities say they still haven’t recovered from it.
“Communities are really weaker financially than they were the last time local aid was in jeopardy,” Beckwith said. “That means there is no margin. If local aid is cut, police officers