Lynn Council to vote on proposed budget cuts Tuesday

LYNN-Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. has informed each city department of its share of an immediate $2.7 million fourth quarter budget cut, setting the stage for layoffs and service reductions across the board.
Gov. Deval Patrick announced a $300 million reduction to the state budget Wednesday in the wake of a $1.1 billion deficit, using his power to slice local aid to cities and towns.
While Patrick vowed not to touch Chapter 70 education money in his cuts, the $2.7 million reduction to the city budget will still reach the Lynn Public Schools, as the city cannot afford to continue funding its share of the department’s $107.8 million spending plan.
Clancy announced an even $1 million cut from the school budget at Thursday night’s School Committee meeting, and committee members voted to allow Superintendent Catherine Latham to begin sending out layoff notices to staff members.
While the $1 million cut is the largest numerical reduction of any department in the city, the school’s share actually reflects a smaller percentage reduction than any other department in the city.
“Everyone must share this substantial reduction equally, with the exception of the schools,” said Clancy, who pointed out that it is easier for the fire or police department to shift personnel to save money than it is for the school department to take a teacher out of the classroom.
School officials are still not sure how many staff members will be laid off, and have said they can cover about half of that million dollar deficit with non-salary reductions.
In other areas of service, both police and fire will take an approximate 2.5 percent hit in their $18 and $17 million budgets respectively, totaling $458,915 for police and $433,431 for fire.
The cuts have already forced the police department to suspend all training and fleet purchases for the remainder of the year and to pull officers from special assignments in favor of street patrols.
Police Chief John Suslak said Friday he has reassigned one officer from the gang unit, one from special operations unit and one from the training unit and has transferred all school resource officers back to the streets. These moves along with monitoring of overtime should allow the chief to avoid any layoffs in fiscal year 2009.
“Our hope is that we are not going to be in a position to layoff anyone in fiscal year 2009,” he said. “But we are going to do the best we can with the services that we have available and we will see as we go how many officers we can keep on the streets.”
Clancy has been meeting with city department heads for weeks leading up to the cuts, and says he is continuing to discuss all money-saving options even as the council prepares to meet Tuesday.
The mayor also met with various union heads Friday morning to discuss more money-saving ideas from their end, but drastic changes to the reductions do not appear imminent.
“I have been meeting with department heads for the past two or three weeks and I have made it very clear that you can’t clear out fixed services like heat, lights or power to do this so it is going to require layoffs,” Clancy said. “It is going to hurt across the board. Fire engines are going to go out of service, there will be fewer police officers on overtime.”
If the council approves Clancy’s proposed cuts Tuesday, city departments will be free to begin making cuts. The School Department said it would send out layoff notices beginning Feb. 12, which would take effect March 16.