Select Board instructs Town Manager to proceed with $2.1 million cut

Date: 12/14/2009

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



LONGMEADOW - The Select Board made their instructions clear: the town needs to cut $2.1 million from its budget to cover the projected shortfall for fiscal year 2011 (FY11).

The question the board tackled at their Dec. 7 meeting was how to do that.

"The $2.1 million [deficit] means blood will run in the streets," Select Board member William Scibelli stated. "We need to stop the bleeding."

Board member Rob Aseltine reported that after reviewing the town's situation, it was determined that revenue constraints made it impossible to sustain the current number of employees, that necessary expenses should not be deferred and that reductions in the future growth in spending are needed, possibly by consolidating departments, outsourcing or regionalization.

Mark Gold, Select Board Clerk, suggested that the School Department - which makes up a little more than 70 percent of the town's overall budget - prepare a budget that accepts 80 percent of the deficit and the town departments create a budget that accepts 40 percent of the deficit. He reasoned that the 120 percent cut would mean that if the budget isn't as dire as predicted, jobs could be reinstated.

Aseltine and Gold suggested the $2.1 million cut be split 65/35 by the schools and the town, respectively. Aseltine added that he'd like to figure out how to do things differently in addition to learning to do with less.

"I want to take the deficit as we know it now and apportion it as we know it [between the schools and the town]," Paul Santaniello, Select Board Vice-Chair, said. "Absolutely everything is on the table."

"The hardest question is sustainability," Select Board Chair Robert Barkett said. "We discussed this last year. If we move forward without changing how we do things, we'll be right back here next year."

He continued that another tough question to answer would be how to render services once cuts are made, since the bulk of Longmeadow's budget goes to salaries.

After the board had debated what the proper shares of cuts should be, Scibelli made a motion to instruct Town Manager Robin Crosbie to prepare a budget with a $2.1 million deficit, which would be shared by the schools and the town 70/30. That equates to $1.47 million from the School Department and $630,000 from the town.

"We are going to eliminate services," Scibelli stated. "If we bring any back [because of additional funds], at that point in time we'll ask for the pros and cons of bringing them back. That's how we'll change the system."

The board unanimously approved Scibelli's motion.

The FY11 budget is scheduled to be presented at the Annual Town Meeting in April.