J.J. Huggins
Staff Writer
August 03, 2008 10:59 pm As municipal budgets continue to tighten, local mayors have begun looking into the possibility of consolidating some city and school jobs where more than one person is performing the same task. But getting school committees to sign off on these consolidations has proven difficult. So a group of area mayors tried to amend the state law that says school committees must approve of these consolidations. That way, the consolidations would need approval from municipal leaders only. They were unsuccessful, however, as the bill wound up being watered down due to opposition from school officials. Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini has been particularly vocal about his desire to consolidate some city and school functions. He said if the law had passed, he would have consolidated personnel and finance "the next day." "It would save us money, and it would be the right thing to do," he said. Fiorentini recently ran into opposition from the School Committee when he proposed merging the city and school finance and personnel offices. He has said he expects merging the departments would lead to savings in the future, but he also is recommending it to improve efficiency and effectiveness, and to provide "an extra set of eyes" on school finances. The School Department's failure to catch a $240,000 shortfall in the privately run school lunch program and a $256,000 shortfall in the account that pays for substitute teachers and other workers last year strengthened his resolve to pass the merger. The legislation filed by the Merrimack Valley Mayors Coalition was called the Municipal Relief Package, and it outlined a series of measures they said would save money. It is not the same as Gov. Deval Patrick's municipal relief package, which would allow cities and towns to raise meal and hotel taxes. School committees balked at the idea of reducing their power, and the legislation was amended to say that school superintendents and the mayor, town manager or chief municipal officer — or their designee — shall talk about "opportunities for cost savings," including consolidations. The changes kept intact the law requiring school committees to approve of consolidations. "That's obviously quite different than what we filed," Methuen Mayor William Manzi said. "There was a statewide revolt by school board members," said Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. "Superintendents and school committees responded quickly, vigorously and assertively to that proposal and convinced the Legislature that that provision was not in the best interest of public education. "That was not about cost saving. That was about control." Manzi and his fellow mayors disagree. "What I'm looking for is not turf, but I'm looking for efficiency," Manzi said. "There is just no way we can continue on this course as cities and towns and have duplicative functions." The Senate wound up approving the weakened version of the mayors' Municipal Relief Package, but it failed to win approval in the House due to a technicality. Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, plans to refile the amended legislation in December or January. If it passes, it would allow voters at town meetings in towns, or city councilors in cities, to force the chief executive of their community and the school superintendent to talk about consolidating. "We think that's a big step," Tarr said. Methuen consolidated its city and school human resources departments last year, eliminating one job. School and city officials agreed on the consolidation, but City Councilor Joseph Leone recently irked some School Committee members by suggesting further consolidation. Methuen School Committee member George Kazanjian said he and other committee members aren't opposed to discussing consolidations. But he's happy they're not in danger of losing their power to approve or deny such measures. "We're elected by the voters to operate the schools," he said. Despite the changes, Manzi said, he is happy with the overall relief package. The mayors created the package after legislators asked them to come up with methods for state officials to help cities and towns deal with tough financial times, without giving them more money. Other items in the package include starting a commission to look at the way municipalities are admitted into the state's Group Insurance Commission; changing the way in which the state is reimbursed by the federal Medicaid program for special needs students; and allowing cities and towns to hold a "reverse auction," where they could post bids on the Internet and bidders could compete to be cheaper than one another.
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