Two issues that have exemplified tensions between City Council and the mayor's office — membership in a new regional vocational school and a local meals tax — could be settled tonight in the current council's last major acts before a new group is sworn in next month.
Councilors can make Gloucester a member of a planned North Shore regional vocational school — again — with a two-thirds vote to override Mayor Carolyn Kirk's veto last week that de-committed the city from locking into the expanding district and its $131 million new school.
The council's 5-3 vote to join the new school the first time — two weeks ago — would have been one short of the two-thirds needed for an override.
If the override is successful, Gloucester students will be guaranteed access to the planned state-of-the-art school, and the city will be on the hook for an estimated $5.39 million in construction costs, plus annual tuition payments.
If the veto override fails, Gloucester's place in the new school will be back in limbo.
Right now, each of the 17 communities planned to be a part of the new school have until the summer before it opens — expected to be 2013 — to secure a vote from its legislative branch and join the school. Students from member districts have priority access to the school and it is not clear how many students from non-member districts will be able to attend the new school, which is expected to have a long waiting list.
Supporters of the new school have called it an essential opportunity for Gloucester students, but Kirk has called for the city to invest the money spent on the new school into Gloucester High School's own vocational program.
Meals tax plan
While the vocational education debate has seen Kirk call for more time to study, the other big issue on tonight's agenda, a proposed .75 percent local restaurant meals tax, has seen the mayor pushing for immediate acceptance of the tax while councilors have questioned whether now is the right time.
Just last week, Kirk renewed her push for the new taxes to provide relief for what she has described as an increasingly bleak five-year municipal budget forecast.
"In summary, expenses continue to rapidly outpace revenues," Kirk said in a message to councilors. "The administration reiterates its support for local option taxes. Clearly, there is a revenue gap which these taxes go a long way towards addressing,"
The meals tax, as well as a proposed 2 percent increase in the local room occupancy tax, has been vigorously fought by innkeepers, restaurateurs and the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce.
In early November, the council's Ordinance and Administration Committee voted to delay a decision on the local option taxes until next year after fielding complaints from the hospitality sector.
The meals tax plan came back on its own later that month, but received an even more hostile reception from proprietors of local restaurants.
After that, the Ordinance and Administration Committee voted unanimously against the meals tax, but sent it on to the full council for tonight's public hearing.
Council President and Ordinance and Administration member Bruce Tobey, who lobbied as a leader of the Massachusetts Municipal Association for state lawmakers to allow cities and towns to raise the option taxes, has said the taxes were intended for budget emergencies, not general operating shortfalls.
In the last few weeks, the new costs associated with the vocational school have been described as just that kind of fiscal emergency and the new revenue from the taxes, $166,000 for meals alone, could be dedicated to pay for it.
Early option tax proposals included earmarking the revenues from the option taxes to a number of different municipal services, but disputes over those priorities dragged the proposals down further. The Kirk administration's latest proposal does not include any earmarks for the money.
Since Kirk took office and the current group of councilors began their terms in January 2008, the relationship between the two branches of city government has been punctuated by bouts of frequent disagreement and verbal sparring.
In council elections this fall, improving cooperation between the mayor and council was one of the major issues in the campaign.
Tonight's meeting is the last scheduled official session for four councilors — Phil Devlin, John "Gus" Foote, Sharon George and Jason Grow.
Four new councilors — Ann Frontiero-Mulcahey, Paul McGeary, Greg Verga and Bob Whynott, are due to be sworn in Jan. 1.
Patrick Anderson can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3455, or via e-mail at panderson@gloucestertimes.com.
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