Lynn council grills Latham

LYNN – Budget-strapped School Superintendent Catherine Latham was grilled by city councilors Tuesday over excessively high transportation costs for special needs students that annually average $38,000 per child.”You could buy each of them a brand new car,” said Councilor-at-large Paul Crowley.Latham explained that some of the students require an aide and nurse on the bus. Once the cost per student exceeds $35,000, the city is eligible for partial reimbursement, she said.The criticism was delivered while Latham was on the hot seat for not presenting a budget to the council for review. She vowed to bring a revised budget to City Hall as early as Friday and no later than Monday.She also warned that cutbacks necessary to eliminate her department’s $1.25 million deficit would cause layoffs, mostly of classroom aides, librarians, some administrators and ultimately the teaching staff depending on the level of each employee’s educational certification.Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy said the municipal side of the $239 million budget for fiscal 2011 contains no layoffs or furloughs. Most departments were able to make the requested cutbacks.Latham, whose School Department budget is separate, was not as successful, evidenced by a teachers’ union vote on Monday that rejected her plan for furloughs.Mayor Kennedy said she intends to scrutinize the School Department budget over the next few days, assured she can identify and trim items in an effort to lessen the shortfall.Councilors spent Tuesday interviewing department heads about the status of their budgets. Nearly all department heads reported living within their budgets despite reductions in office expenses and generally doing more with less.Michael Sweeney, the city’s veterans’ agent, said his budget actually increased by 9 percent. It was expected, he said, “with two wars and the worst economy in a generation.”