Towns feel budget pinch in police, land tax

[ Originally published on: Saturday, October 31, 2009 ]

Pointing to a nearly $11 million cut in payments to towns for state-owned lands and $18 million for regional school busing, nearly 50 town officials confronted area legislators Friday disputing the impression painted by Gov. Deval Patrick that they were spared the pain of budget cuts he announced on Thursday.

In fact, some of the selectmen and other town officials attending a Massachusetts Municipal Association legislative meeting in Deerfield charged that small towns were disproportionately hurt. And they fear that next year's scenario will be far worse.

Even those towns that weren't as hurt this time around -- like Greenfield, which doesn't have much state-owned land and doesn't get regional school busing money -- say more cuts are likely later this budget year.

''There's a constant erosion of stuff: regional school transportation, the Quinn Bill, veterans' benefits, that makes up our budget,'' said Deerfield Selectman Carolyn Shores Ness after the 1½-hour long session. ''What's really scaring us is we've used so much of this (stimulus and reserve) money for Fiscal '10, and there's really not anything left. Schools have been given extra time to adjust, but I don't think enough has been done to prepare for the shock of 2011. That's what everybody is really, really scared of. It's going to be like nothing we've ever seen before.''

For the full version of this story, you may purchase The Recorder electronically, by returning to the home page and clicking under ''E-Edition'' on the right side of your screen, or you can purchase the print edition, which is available throughout Franklin County, Massachusetts.

 

---