Saugus searching for ways to tackle near $800G deficit

SAUGUS – Even though the new fiscal year is just a week old, Saugus is already facing a deficit of nearly $800,000.Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said deficits were built into the budget, as they have been in the past, since Saugus is at its maximum tax levy.The current deficit amounts to $532,400 in the town’s group health plan and $243,880 in the vocational school assessment for a total of $776,280.”The budget is a work in progress,” said Bisignani. “It’s something that we have to deal with before we set the tax rate. It’s there. It has to be addressed. If we don’t get any money from the state, or RESCO, I hope we have enough to pay it off.”After the $1.27 million one-time tax assessment passed in June, $100,000 went to the group health plan and $77,000 went to the vocational school assessment to help ease the deficit.Town Meeting member Robert Cox expressed concern about the deficit and said he thinks the town can do more to enforce bylaws and zoning ordinances to increase revenue, or look into the free cash account.”We’ve experienced this before and we were able to apply free cash,” said Cox. “That’s been the escape route before. I’ve always been a proponent of enforcing existing regulation, a better use of inspection services and investigating violations. It won’t be a windfall but it would at least be an effort.”But Bisignani isn’t expecting any surplus in the free cash account this year either, which means money to close the budget gap will have to come from someplace else.The free cash account is the total available unrestricted funds left over from the previous year. The town experienced a $416,666 deficit in the free cash account last year. This was the result of borrowed funds not posting until after the end of the 2010 fiscal year.”I wouldn’t expect any free cash this year because we’ve had no surpluses this year,” said Bisignani. “I think it would be less of a deficit than last year. I made damn sure all the money was borrowed properly.”Bisignani said there may be some growth in the real estate market, but the Board of Assessors will have to look at that in the fall.One possible source of funds would be the $65 million in town aid added to the state budget. Gov. Deval Patrick has until Monday to sign the $30.6 billion budget. If he does, Saugus would see an additional $224,368 in aid.”If we get this money, it will help us,” said Selectmen Chairman and state Rep. Donald Wong. “But, with the economy the way it is, we’re not out of the woods yet. We’re going to have to work conservatively to get the quality of life in Saugus that we want.”Even with the additional aid the current deficit would still need to be tackled, which Bisignani said has to be done one way or another.”The fiscal year 2012 budget is not fully funded,” said Bisignani. “It needs to be addressed, either with more funding or cuts.”