Without concessions, basic services will be cut and as many as 120 employees laid off, Mayor Domenic Sarno said.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno announced Tuesday that he is asking Springfield city employees to accept a wage free and 12 furlough days in order to balance the fiscal 2012 city budget.SPRINGFIELD – Mayor Domenic J. Sarno is asking 1,500 city employees to accept a wage freeze and take a dozen furlough days to offset a $5.4 million budget gap beginning July 1.
Without concessions from public employees, basic services will be reduced and as many as 120 employees laid off, Sarno announced at a press conference Tuesday at City Hall.
“It’s not raining anymore, it’s pouring,” the mayor said, referring to the city’s financial plight. “I’m looking for concessions from every employee, top to bottom,” he added.
The proposed wage freeze comes less than a week after the state Senate voted 36-0 to approve reduced local aid amounts for next year proposed by Gov. Deval L. Patrick and the House Ways and Means Committee.
The vote guarantees that state aid for cities and towns will be slashed for the fourth straight year.
In announcing his budget-balancing plan Tuesday, Sarno said other communities will be facing the same choices as Springfield in the coming weeks. Given the shortage of time, Sarno said he hopes for an agreement in several weeks.
Meetings with unions representing most of the city’s 1,500 employees will begin Wednesday, city officials said.
“Is this pleasant? No. Is it necessary? Yes,” the mayor said. “We’ve been through this, and then this before, and we’ll get through it again,” he added.
Timothy J. Plante, the municipal and school finance director, said school officials are facing an $18 million deficit for next year, and will announce cost-cutting measures next week.
Referring to the city’s $550-million budget, Sarno said 79 percent is allocated for fixed costs, such as debt service, medical insurance and pension costs, leaving only 21 percent for discretionary spending.
At the same time, state aid has been cut 34 percent since 2008 while the city has faced rising costs, including absorbing $4 million in annual costs for police pay under the Quinn Bill, the mayor said.
To reduce the projected budget gap for 2012, the city will use $10.5 million from its surplus, or stabilization, account. The combination of surplus funds, plus $5.4 million in concessions, will balance the budget for next year.
At the press conference, Sarno did not rule out seeking more concessions in fiscal 2013 if the local and state economic climate does not improve. “It’s a fluid situation,” the mayor said.
City Councilor Amaad S. Rivera, one of three councilors attending the session, declined to speculate on how city unions would react to the mayor’s proposal. “I think they (city unions) will be looking for an open and transparent process,” Rivera said.
City Councilor Michael A. Fenton noted that he and Councilor Timothy C. Allen, who also attended the session, had proposed furloughs last year as a way to avoid a tax increase.