Clancy to ask unions for wage freeze for FY ’10

LYNN -Calling for “sacrifices across the municipal board,” Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. painted a bleak picture of the fiscal year 2010 budget Tuesday, again warning that cuts made to the fiscal year 2009 budget are only the beginning of the city’s financial turmoil. As the School Committee prepares to vote Wednesday night to decide if they will accept teachers and administrators offer to take an unpaid day of work to make up a $500,000 cut in the fiscal year 2009 budget, Clancy is calling for unions in the city to make greater sacrifices in 2010, specifically asking members to agree to a wage freeze.”I want to avoid layoffs, but most of the city’s budgets are 80-85 percent salaries, so there is going to have to be some sacrifices,” he said. “Anything to do with avoiding layoffs has to be tied to a one-year wage freeze in 2010.”While the mayor and city departments are left to deal with a $2.7 million cut in state aid in fiscal year 2009, Clancy says he has greater concern for 2010 – a year that he has been predicting will bring “financial Armageddon” to the city since late last year.Once again, it appears that the School Department budget is poised to take the largest hit in 2010, as Clancy estimated he needs a minimum of $5-$6 million more than last year to balance numbers.The shortfall is a product of a minimal increase in state funding for education next year, combined with a serious lack of new revenue coming into the city while costs continue to rise.Gov. Deval Patrick said last month that he would not make any cuts to the Chapter 70 education funding for cities and towns, but at the same time, he does not plan on increasing that funding in 2010 either.Educators are holding out hope that President Barack Obama’s stimulus package will bring with it funding for education in Lynn for fiscal year 2010, but it is too soon to speculate how much money will find its way into the department’s budget.Fiscal year 2010 will mark the second straight year that the School Department has faced a serious budget crunch during spring negotiations. In negotiating the fiscal year 2009 budget, the School Committee voted to send out over 100 layoff notices and close two elementary schools because of similar problems with rising insurance and energy costs – a move that eventually resulted in the combination of several alternative programs and higher student counts in the classroom.Educators again took a hit last week when Patrick’s statewide cut trickled down to the School Department, forcing Superintendent Catherine Latham to send out more than 120 additional mid-year layoff notices – a move that could be reversed if the School Committee agrees to allow teachers and administrators to work a day without pay to make up the budget gap instead.Along with the suggested wage freezes, which would have to be negotiated with union leaders, Clancy suggested that the School Department look at cutting cots in transportation and food service, and explore ways of changing how the department handles employees taking time off under the family medical leave act.”Until the state government cut our legs off at the knees in ’09 we were balanced,” he said. “We weren’t putting anything away for a rainy day, but we were balanced. The larger problem is 2010. I don’t have the exact number but we are looking at a minimum of $5-$6 million to fund the School Department next year, and we simply don’t have it.”