Vol. 3, No. 8
June 16, 2003
Contents
A) BUDGET OVERVIEW
Grim as our budget picture was for FY 2003, FY 2004 appears to be far worse. For decades,
Somerville has had a structural dependence on state aid that has left it particularly vulnerable
to recent sharp declines in state revenue and to changes in leadership and philosophy within state
government. As FY 2003 draws to a close, the budget deliberations of the Board of Aldermen
approach, with the Mayor having transmitted the City Budget to the Board at its June 12
meeting.
We've known for weeks now that additional cuts in state aid have substantially reduced
Somerville's anticipated revenues - the total reduction amounts to $12.1 million, since August
2002. The Board of Aldermen has been wondering what cuts the Mayor would propose in order
to balance the city's budget - perhaps you've been wondering, too. Here is a preview of the
Mayor's proposal, with the caveat that layoff totals are not summarized, and must be gleaned
from each departmental budget.
The Big Numbers
The FY 2003 budget proposed last year by the Mayor was $166.6 million. Comparing this
year's "Mayor's Budget Letter" to last year's, I was initially shocked to read that the "total
General Fund supported budget recommended to your Board for FY '04 is $132,560,705." A
few pages later, I discovered the reason for the discrepancy: a "Grand Total" budget reported
as $160,448,955.
What has happened to the way the budget is being presented? Last year's budget was presented
in a somewhat more 'unified' manner. It included, for instance, the approximately $16 million
sewer and water budget, which was for the first time last year funded through a revolving
"enterprise fund."
This year, that Sewer and Water Enterprise Fund is up to just over $17 million. The other big
cost center totals are: General Government $6.5M; Public Safety $24.3M; Culture and
Recreation $2.2M; Public Works $13.2M; Pensions and Fringe Benefits $31.7M; Debt Service
$7.6M; Insurance/Damages $.5M; Schools $46.2M; MBTA Assessment $4.9M; Charter Schools
$4.3M; and Overlay Reserve $1.5M.
One other thing to keep in mind is that the budget acted upon by the Board of Aldermen does
not represent 100% of all city spending. The multi-million dollar budget of the Office of
Housing and Community Development, funded through federal grant monies, has never been
part of the budget in this city. Nor does the Telecommunications Budget, funded through cable
vendor licensing fees, appear anywhere in the official budget.
Budget Numbers as Percentages of Total Budget
Keeping in mind that the "city budget" omits these latter-mentioned items, it was nonetheless
helpful in last year's budget book to have a pie graph showing the percentages of the revealed
budget devoted to various city departments and expenses. It will take me a little while to prepare
my own pie graph, but I have compared some of the percentages allocated to various 'cost
centers.' In general, the percentages have not altered much.
The cost of employee benefits has gone up by 1%, from 18.8% to 19.8%, due primarily to the
increasing cost of health insurance. The Public Safety total (mostly Police and Fire) has dropped
from 16% to 15% of the total budget. The Culture and Recreation total (Libraries and
Recreation) has also dropped a percentage point, but going from 2% to 1% halves that section
of the pie.
The Education budget as a percentage of the city budget appears to be down only slightly, from
32% to 31.4%. Looking at raw numbers, Education looks to be level funded, at $50,500,000
in Fiscal Years 2002, 2003 and 2004. The percentage of Education funds actually going to the
Somerville School Department for FY '04, however, is actually $46,200,000, or 28.8% of the
city budget. The decrease in actual funds to the city's schools seems to be due to the steady
increase in amounts paid to charter schools.
Somerville's charter school expenditures were $2.7M in FY '00, and $3.6M in FY '01; in FY
'03 Somerville budgeted $3.7 million for charter school payments. The FY '04 budget calls for
$4.3 million - 2.6% of the city's budget. Yes, that is more than twice the amount that
Somerville budgets for libraries, recreation, and youth - you're catching on to this numbers
game.
The proportion of the city budget devoted to "General Government" has gone down, too, from
5% to almost 4%. Some of this shrinkage is due to "reorganization," with the "Executive Office
of Community Youth" (or its remains, anyway) being folded into Recreation. Similarly, the
"Executive Office of Animal Control" (such as it is) has been put into Public Safety.
Some Programmatic Effects of the FY 2004 Budget
Reorganization has "downsized" some city departments; other city departments are simply gone.
All that remains of what was the "Executive Office of Human Services" is the Executive
Director of the Human Rights Commission/ADA Disabilities Director. The Housing & Benefits
Advocacy Program is gone, the Family Advocacy Program is gone, the Women's Commission
is gone (at least from the budget; I understand that grant funding is keeping the Commission's
Director employed half time, at least temporarily.)
What, if anything, is left to cut - or to shrink, at least? I've been asking myself that question as
I've reviewed the budget this weekend. Many the budget items are locked in place by collective
bargaining agreements. City unions rejected the Mayor's request to increase the employee
contribution to health care benefits; school and public safety employees rejected a proposed delay
of previously negotiated FY '04 salary increases. One concession the Mayor reported winning
was a program of voluntary furloughs from the 84 member Somerville Municipal Employees
Association (SMEA).
Many costs are fixed, others are rising. The city is not getting any smaller - in fact, it's
growing. Population has risen beyond projections, and there are 400 additional housing units
going on line for permitting in Ward 2 alone. The call for municipal services will likely be on
the rise, especially if a slight increase in crime figures trends upward. More cuts to schools and
youth programs can practically guarantee some uptick in crime.
What Do You Think?
There will be a public hearing on the budget on Thursday, June 19, at 7:00 p.m., in the
Somerville High School Auditorium, next door to City Hall. Every year, in fact, the Board of
Aldermen holds a hearing on the city's budget. Typically, no one attends. Will this year be any
different? If people come to the hearing this year, will they make constructive suggestions for
allocating the dollars that we do have?
B) CLARIFYING THE SCHOOL BUDGET PROCESS
Last week, the School Committee voted, for the first time in living memory, for a school budget
higher than that proposed by the Mayor - a little more than $1 million higher, if I have been
correctly informed. Ordinarily, the Board of Aldermen may only cut from the city's budget.
Because of the School Committee vote, however, a two-thirds majority of the Board may this
year vote to increase the school budget up to the amount voted by the School Committee; the
Board must, however, fund any such increase by cutting the city budget.
Judging by some of the calls and letters I've received, there are Somerville residents who seem
to think that the Board of Aldermen has proposed cuts to the school budget, and, conversely,
that the Board can restore specific positions or programs which have been cut from the school
budget. Both impressions are erroneous. The school budget is developed by the School
Department, presumably with input from the School Committee, and the Board of Aldermen
only sees, and votes on, its bottom line.
The School Department budget is not organized the way that the City's Budget is organized, by
line item within departments. I find it excruciatingly hard to follow, let alone analyze. It does
not present data in a way that I find at all helpful.
Just to throw out some big numbers, as I did with the city budget, consider the following budget
items from FY '03 School Budget: School Central Administration $1.4 million; Somerville High
School Principal's Office, $1.1 million; Technology Services $1.4 million.
I'll be putting some school budgetary information on my web site as soon as I can, so that other
interested persons can puzzle it out, too. The School Budget could use some clarification.
C) BUDGET HEARING SCHEDULE POSTED ON MY WEBSITE
The full schedule for the budget hearings to be held over the next two weeks by the Board of
Aldermen is now
posted on my website
D) MY BUDGET SUGGESTIONS (REPRISE)
Back in January, we Aldermen were asked to prepare a list of suggestions for dealing with the
state cuts to the city's budget. We submitted our suggestions in writing to the Finance
Committee, to be forwarded to the Mayor. I put my list of suggestions in a February newsletter.
I'm putting my list forward again, for a six-months-later review, and to reflect whether any
administrative action was taken on these suggestions:
1) Engage the people of this city in the budget and planning process. Public hearings/meetings
should be held - preferably in locations all over the city - to introduce residents to the format
and methods of the city budget, and to take testimony as to what is important to the people of
this city in the way of city services, what their priorities are. This process should happen even
when there is no budget crisis.
ACTION: The Board of Aldermen will conduct its annual public hearing on the city budget. The
Mayor has held no public meetings or hearings on the city budget.
2) Proposals for cuts/consolidations of departments should be put forward at these public
meetings, then finalized soon, so that informed decisions can be made about facilities.
Any re-organization of city departments has implications for how buildings and other spaces are to be
used. Decisions about programming need to be made first; decisions about space logically
follow.
ACTION: Cuts and consolidations were not discussed publicly. No public discussion yet of
programming, building space consequences.
3) An inventory of all city buildings should be made, and city programs housed within city
buildings. At a time when we supposedly have "surplus" city buildings, we are paying over
$700,000 a year renting space to house city programs. Better utilization of city assets and
resources would make our dollars go further in good times and bad.
ACTION: The Board of Aldermen worked on the proposal to renovate the Homans building until
it became feasible as a financial plan for reducing the city's dependence on rented space. The
Board of Aldermen voted to bond the project. The Administration has not started work on the
Homans Building project.
4) City managers should institute better controls for overtime, and a better system for
documenting why it is justified when it is authorized. The report on overtime expenditure, which
this Board recently requested, showed $1,227,245.30 spent as of January 20, 2003 - only just
past the mid-way point of the fiscal year, and only on the city side of the budget. A year's worth
of rental payments, and a half-year's overtime total almost $2 million, for just these two items.
ACTION: The Board of Aldermen has not been made aware of existing overtime policies, or
of plans for overtime control.
5) Detailed budgets for OHCD and for the Telecommunications Trust Fund should be presented
Board of Aldermen for its review, to present the full spectrum of the city's resources. This
requirement was set forth by Ordinance in 2000, but there has not yet been compliance.
ACTION: The OHCD and Telecommunications budgets do not appear in the FY 2004 budget
book.
6) We should end the practice of established salaries for appointed positions by ordinance, and
instead develop salary ranges for each position, with "steps" that reflect credentials, experience,
and years on the job. The city needs to create a rational basis for its professional/managerial
positions, and for raises, when it gives them.
ACTION: The Mayor's spokesperson derided the concept of salary ranges for municipal
employees in the Somerville Journal. The Massachusetts Municipal Association in March
released its "Benchmark Salary Survey," with information about "the work hours and maximum
and minimum annual pay for various key municipal positions across the state."
7) Address once again the matter of gasoline allowances for city employees. Last year, this
Board ordered a cut from the budget of all gas allowances not required by union contract. We
asked the Solicitor, I believe, whether we might lawfully move to a system in which mileage,
and the purpose for which it is traveled, are documented, and employees reimbursed. It is time
for the Solicitor to answer this question. It is also time for the city to develop a clear, explicit,
and reasonable policy for issuance and maintenance of city vehicles.
ACTION: Assistant City Solicitor Candies Pruitt had informed the Board of Aldermen in writing
that "[a]s regards non-union employees, I am informed that they no longer have car allowances
or gas cards." The Somerville Journal reports on April 17, 2003, on non-union city workers who
are supplied with cars and gasoline. ("City workers cruise home on public dime," page 1)
8) Somerville could make many residents happy, and enhance revenues, by issuing fines for the
kinds of violations of law and ordinance that degrade our quality of life. Contractors who build
without a permit; motorists who speed, run through pedestrian crosswalks and red lights;
landlords who maintain apartment buildings where trash is piled outside all week long. Ticket
these folks, and the people who pay their taxes and obey the law will applaud.
ACTION: Have you noticed any improvements in law enforcement?
9) Inventory all the city's personal property, and check the inventory each year, to monitor and
control "shrinkage."
ACTION: None apparent.
10) Conserve heating fuel with lower temperatures and better controls. The committee room in
city hall is always roasting hot in winter, as are many other parts of the building. The interiors
of many of our schools are uncomfortably hot and dry in winter. The Commission on Energy
Use and Climate Change can probably give many suggestions on energy economy and the
reduction of waste.
ACTION: Commission will be issuing its report.
11) Put more contracts out to bid. Even where the law does not require competitive bidding, it
can be useful to find out what other options are out there, especially in this economic climate.
ACTION. I'm not aware of any such initiative, but will ask during budget hearings.
copyright 2003 Denise Provost
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