Lynn grim over funds

LYNN – Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. says the state Senate’s local aid budget proposal for Lynn in fiscal 2010 is grim.According to the mayor, who expressed his concerns to the City Council earlier this week, the city is using an anticipated cherry sheet estimate of $140 million, although it’s possible Lynn could receive $4 million less than that amount, based on the final budget proposal from the Senate.In fiscal 2009, the city received $149.1 million.Named for the cherry-colored paper on which it was originally printed, the cherry sheet is the official notification by the Commissioner of Revenue to municipalities and regional school districts of estimated state aid to be paid and charges to be assessed over the next fiscal year.Gov. Deval Patrick’s local aid budget estimate for Lynn in fiscal 2010 was $143.1 million. The House of Representatives returned a slightly higher figure of $143.3 in its final budget proposal. To Clancy’s chagrin, the Senate’s final proposal was $136 million, or $7.3 million less than the House total.”We’ve been using $140 million as a working figure because that’s the amount we assume we might get,” Clancy said Thursday. “But all of that means nothing when you look at the Senate’s final budget proposal. The jury is still out. In any event, we are waiting to see the final number that the Conference Committee produces, but whatever it is, it’ll be a steep reduction from the original fiscal year 2009 figure of $149 million.”The mayor said a best-case scenario – the $143 million as proposed by the governor and the House – would still create hardship due to the loss of substantial funding when compared to the previous fiscal year.In addition to possibly losing millions of dollars in state aid, the situation is compounded by an unfunded Quinn Bill, leaving cities and towns to pay for police education and training without the benefit of a 50 percent state match.”When you take the money we’re losing in local aid, add the impact of the unfunded Quinn Bill and the charter schools that are taking money away from our local public school system and then take into account the health insurance trust fund assessment, you have a big problem,” Clancy said. “There are a whole host of things that affect this, but these are the most prominent.”The mayor said Lynn would likely learn its final cherry sheet total before the start of the 2010 fiscal year on July 1.”If it turns out we get the $136 million as proposed by the Senate, we would have to go back and drastically cut services,” he said. “We made an educated estimate that the local aid figure will come in around $140 million, which is less than the governor and House say, but more than the Senate. The governor in April saw income tax plunge, so the Legislature voted for an increase in the sales tax. I was hoping they would use the additional sales-tax revenue to plug the local aid gap.”The disparity between the House and Senate versions on the fiscal 2010 cherry sheets can be found in several line items, including Chapter 70 school aid with the Senate proposing $2.3 million less than the House. Police career incentive funding shows a difference of $281,022 less in the Senate version.Veterans’ benefits were about $24,000 less in the Senate proposal, while public library funding was also about $24,000 less.The city budget for fiscal 2010 is approximately $250 million, with more than 50 percent derived from cherry sheet funding.