Swampscott swings budget ax

SWAMPSCOTT – In an attempt to stretch budget dollars for the remainder of the fiscal year, the town is laying off three employees this month.Town Administrator Andrew Maylor confirmed Monday morning that Department of Public Works Field Coordinator Charlie Picariello would be laid off Thursday, Feb. 26. Part-time police department clerical employees Claire Avery was laid off effective today and Diane Folin in the assessing department would be laid off effective Feb. 26.Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta said Picariello has been with the department for 32 years and would be missed.”He’s been a model employee,” Cresta said. “He always showed up at work and never called in sick.”Maylor said when the town created the field coordinator position in the early 1990s, it was not a civil service job. Because it is not civil service, Picariello does not have the option of bumping someone with less seniority.The town planner, a firefighter and a police officer have either resigned or retired and Maylor said those three positions would be left vacant for the remainder of this year.In addition to layoffs and not filling vacancies, Maylor said the operating hours for the library are being reduced by three hours a week and the senior center operating hours will be reduced by six hours a week effective immediately.Maylor said the three layoffs and reduction in hours are necessary due to the mid-year local aid cuts announced by Gov. Deval Patrick.Maylor said the town had to cut $62,000 for its budget due to the cuts and the school department had to trim $94,000 from its budget for the current fiscal year.”Because the cuts are being made so late in the year we are actually only going to realize four months of savings,” he said.Maylor said the cuts and reductions made as a result of the local aid cuts would be carried over into fiscal year 2010.”All these cuts will carry forward into FY’10,” he said. “There are a couple of wild cards out there so it’s possible additional reductions may have to be made for (next year). I assumed a 10 percent increase in health insurance,” he said. “But we don’t know how much the health insurance increase will be yet. In my budget I did not assume we’re going to get the $183,000 from the state that we’re slated to get from new taxes. No one knows yet if new taxes will be approved by the Legislature.”