Revere to drop budget ax on City Hall workers; others to work reduced hours

REVERE – Seven City Hall employees will be laid off on Feb. 20 and three police officers undergoing training will not join the department as part of a second wave of budget cuts Mayor Thomas Ambrosino is instituting in reaction to state financial aid reductions.The first wave came at the end of last year when Ambrosino ordered the city to start saving money against anticipated cuts by leaving 12 jobs left vacant by retirements unfilled. Ambrosino warned a third wave of reductions will take place if the city cannot save $700,000 by getting municipal unions to agree to delay pay raises negotiated last year.Ambrosino has also ordered city departments to save money by reducing 30 employees’ work hours by four hours a week beginning Feb. 20.Gov. Deval Patrick on Jan. 23 announced cuts in state money allocated annually to communities, including a $1.2 million cut in Revere’s aid. Patrick deliberately spared school spending from the aid cuts but Superintendent Paul Dakin took steps last fall to leave some school jobs vacant following retirements and looked for ways to reduce school energy costs.The range of options available to Patrick and the Legislature for tackling the budget crisis boils down to cutting costs or raising money.Among the cuts is a $128 million reduction in state aid to cities and towns, while among the new revenues is a proposal to extend the state’s 5 percent sales tax to store-bought alcohol, as well as candy, soda and other sweetened drinks.”Taken together, these measures are right and necessary steps to get us through these difficult times,” the governor said last week.The House and Senate will next unveil budgets that work from the governor’s proposal. Any differences will have to be worked out in a process that usually takes until June or July.Patrick is proposing to increase the state meals tax from 5 percent to 6 percent, generating about $150 million that can be returned to cities and towns based on the formula used to distribute lottery funds. He also wants to let cities and towns levy their own 1 percent meals tax, which would be kept locally. Patrick is proposing similar increases for the state’s 5.75 percent hotel/motel tax.In outlining his ideas, Patrick denied being overly reliant on federal financial assistance, which is the subject of a battle between the Obama administration and congressional Republicans. Patrick said the money he budgeted was new Medicaid funding that appears widely agreed upon and in the mid-range of the state’s likely portion.Michael Widmer, of the nonpartisan, business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said Patrick has “made the best of a very difficult situation” with his blend of cuts, new revenues and rainy day withdrawals.Nonetheless, Widmer said he fears the 2010 budget will have to be cut even more, since it assumes tax revenues of $19.5 billion. The foundation projects they will be closer to $18.6 billion.”Despite the size of these cuts, there may have to be additional cuts before the budget finally reaches the governor’s desk,” Widmer said.Police Chief Terence Reardon said in addition to not bringing new officers onto the force, he is prepared to reassign some officers from schools and other duties to provide a sufficient number of officers patrolling local streets.All of the budget-shrinking moves address spending shortages the city currently faces now, not ones it will face in July when Patrick has said the state’s ability to help fund local budgets will be reduced again.