Quinn Bill cuts squeeze Lynn Police budget

LYNN – The loss of Quinn Bill funding for fiscal 2010 has left many communities scrambling to make up the difference, including Lynn, where the legislation that pays for the education of law enforcement officers costs the city $750,000 a year.”That provision was built into the police contract before I became mayor. I didn’t put it there,” Mayor Edward Clancy Jr. said Wednesday. “That makes it very specific and it also states that in the event the Massachusetts general laws are repealed or amended, all police officers in the city of Lynn should continue to receive their Quinn benefits.”Enacted in 1970, the Quinn Bill encourages police officers of all ranks to pursue higher education by rewarding them with a 10 percent bonus for an associate’s degree, 20 percent for a bachelor’s degree and 25 percent for a Master’s degree.Communities pay 50 percent of the incentive and municipalities pay the other 50 percent, but this year the state reduced its contributions to the Quinn Bill from $50 million to $10 million.Clancy said the city has been forced to pay the entire amount of the Quinn Bill funding because the state this year reneged on its 50-50 matching funds commitment.”The state has discontinued the funding, so it has become an unfunded mandate,” he said. “We still have to pay because there’s language in the contract that says the Quinn Bill must be fully funded irregardless of any state contributions.”The municipal budget for fiscal 2010 has been ratified and the Quinn Bill expenses are included in the Police Department budget, but the cost of satisfying that debt was spread over other departments, according to the mayor.”It wasn’t tit for tat, but when you are forced to pay for the whole Quinn Bill, you have to get the money from somewhere, which means there is less money for other programs,” he said, adding that Lynn also lost its Shannon Grant money for other community programs as well as a portion of its local aid for fiscal 2010.”We had a local aid cut, which helps pay for police and fire and everything on the city side,” he said. “In some ways, the Quinn Bill is comparable to the charter school issue. They give you a bill and you pay it. So we budgeted.”Clancy said city officials spotted language related to the Quinn Bill cuts in a Conference Committee report in the state Legislature during the budgeting process earlier this year.”It was in one of the versions of the budget and we saw it. It was like a haymaker coming, and you know it’s too late to duck, so you steel yourself for the blow,” he said. “It’s something the city continues to grapple with.”To put it in perspective, the current Quinn Bill expenses in Lynn are enough to pay the salaries of 10 schoolteachers.Under the city’s contract with the Police Department, effective July 1, 2000, eligible police officers receive Educational Incentive Pay weekly and Career Award Pay annually. The contract states that in the event the state laws related to the Quinn Bill are changed, or the state discontinues funding its portion, “all officers shall continue to receive the full educational incentive to which he or she is entitled? and the city shall pay the entire amount.””That’s it in black and white,” said Clancy.