Mayor Carolyn Kirk left the Statehouse yesterday after meeting with Gov. Deval Patrick and 26 other Massachusetts mayors convinced that state aid to cities and towns, including Gloucester, would be cut before the end of this calendar year
The meeting was scheduled in response to concerns about the effect the financial crisis gripping the nation will have on the state budget, and that local aid could be cut as soon as this month.
The Patrick administration announced no specific mid-year aid cuts yesterday, but scheduled the release of updated state revenue numbers next Wednesday, Kirk said.
In response to the governor's comments, Kirk said she has scheduled a meeting of city department heads, and is requesting they propose possible cuts to the budget for this fiscal year, which began in July. She said the city would come up with a number of contingency plans based on how severe any local aid cuts prove to be.
"What I got out of (the meeting) is that there will be cuts to local aid," Kirk said. "I have a staff meeting Tuesday morning where I am going to ask for cut packages."
In 2002, then-Gov. Mitt Romney made 20 percent cuts to both municipal aid and state aid to education, and Gloucester has never seen that aid return.
Addressing the impending budget squeeze, Kirk said she asked the governor to give cities facing budget cuts relief from state mandates — such as the multi-million-dollar water and sewer consent orders Gloucester is facing — until the economy recovers. She also said she asked the governor to keep in mind the communities such as Gloucester, whose state aid never recovered to pre-2002 levels.
"It is imperative that they consider communities who have not been restored since 2002," Kirk said. "Otherwise, it is a triple whammy of local tax receipts going down, state aid going down, and the 2002 cuts."
The grim budget predictions come after the state's first-quarter revenues fell $223 million short of projections.
Patrick, who does not have the power to unilaterally trim the budget, has discussed expanding his budget-cutting authority with House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray.
"They know there'll be some impact; we don't know exactly to the extent," Murray said after the meeting with mayors. "But we're doing everything we can to hold those core funding sources — local aid and Chapter 70 (education funding) — harmless as best that we can."
While many mayors coming out of the meetings expressed relief that no cuts were announced in the near term, Kirk said she would like to know what is coming as soon as possible.
"We said, 'you have to let us know, so we have more time in the fiscal year to handle the cuts,'" Kirk said. "If they don't tell us 'til January, we only have half the fiscal year to make it up."
Material from the Associated Press was used in this story compiled by staff writer Patrick Anderson. He may be contacted at panderson@gloucestertimes.com.
