The Boston Globe reports that cities and towns are delaying financial decisions in light of budgetary uncertainties.

"I expect this to be very fluid for a couple more months," said Sam Tyler, executive director of the business-funded Boston Municipal Research Bureau.

"And it's not just Boston. Every city and town is in the same situation."

Not so, Sam. Chatham has sent its budget off to the printer for the May 11th Town Meeting. Unlike almost all other cities and towns Chatham's operations budget for FY10 rises almost 4% (about $1 million), boosted by generous wage hikes for all town employees. (The Selectmen ignored the Finance Committee's majority vote rejecting the budget.) The Selectmen did not make a single reduction of even one dollar in the spending proposed by the Town Manager.

For property taxpayers who did not build anything on their properties in FY09 the property tax levy will rise precisely 2 1/2. To avoid an override vote the selectmen approved taking money out of the Stabilization Fund and other reserves which are principally set aside for emergency use to pay for the spending in excess of the Propositon 2 1/2 limit. This is one of the maneuvers which drew fire from the Finance Committee.

In addition, proposed off-budget capital spending for FY10 will exceed $1 million and authority to raise property taxes to pay for a $59 million bond issue will be put before the voters. The selectmen also propose to proceed with a $16.9 million capital project (almost $20 million with its wastewater disposal facility) for a new two-building complex on George Ryder Road to house the Police Department and the few town employees involved in planning and permitting despite the difficult financial times the world outside of Chatham is experiencing. A petition submitted by 99 taxpayers seeks to defer and rethink the expensive George Ryder Road project. If Harwich's new police station opening in July only cost $8.5 million, why is Chatham spendiing twice that?

Many question whether this is the time to be starting such expensive projects that will be hitting property tax bills heavily in short order.

On a percentage basis there is little doubt that on Cape Cod Chatham is number one in proposing spending at this spring's town meeting. It may be number one in Massachusetts.

On Town Meeting agendas: deferrals

Budget doubts delay key votes

By John C. Drake, Globe Staff | April 6, 2009

The Town Meetings that typically arrive in early spring along with the first crocus buds are falling victim to the national economic crisis.

In the latest indicator of local budget trouble, town officials are delaying the local budget-setting rites for a month or more because of deep uncertainty surrounding local revenues, the amount of aid that will be distributed by the state, and union negotiations.

Not all Town Meetings are being delayed, just those that adhere to early schedules.

Sudbury's Town Meeting members, for instance, are scheduled to convene and vote on the 2010 budget today - a date that was written into the town's bylaws because it was convenient for farmers. But when members arrive, selectmen will urge an immediate vote to put off budget debates until May 11.

"We're building a budget on a sandbar that could get washed away quickly," said Larry O'Brien, chairman of Sudbury's Board of Selectmen. "It's so fluid that every couple of days you get a different story."

Other towns with April town meetings, including Medfield, Andover, and Lakeville, already have postponed annual meetings until May or June, also citing murky signals coming from Beacon Hill. Official statistics were not available from the state or the Massachusetts Municipal Association. At least 10 towns that typically hold their Town Meetings or budget-setting votes in March or April are postponing them to May or June, according to interviews with town officials.

The national recession is having a ripple effect that is being felt at the local level. The state's budget gap appears to be worsening; Governor Deval Patrick and lawmakers might impose more cuts in local aid; and $160 million pledged from the federal stimulus money for local education has become the source of wrangling between Patrick and legislative leaders.

Meanwhile, town officials across the state are reopening contracts and attempting to negotiate money-saving concessions with unions. The outcome will dictate how many local employees will need to be laid off and what level of spending police, fire, and schools will need.

The variables are many, concrete solutions few, so officials are taking a wait-and-see attitude. Budgets typically have to be set before July 1, the start of the next fiscal year.

"There are a lot of question marks. And for those communities with early town meetings planned, it becomes very difficult to assemble a budget that is able to meet local needs and that has a firm revenue number," said Geoffrey Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association.

Municipal leaders are pushing aggressively for legislators to approve a local-option meals tax of 1 or 2 cents. Patrick has included a meals and lodging tax in his proposed budget, but House leaders have not agreed. Mayor Thomas M. Menino and other cities' leaders will testify at a hearing tomorrow to urge approval.

In Sudbury, O'Brien said, town leaders are prepared to present a budget for approval that includes laying off about two dozen teachers and about 10 additional municipal workers, if Town Meeting members refuse to postpone a decision today. But a variety of factors could dramatically increase the size of cuts the town will have to make, or spare the cuts.

"There will be a lot of pain," Beckwith said. "But will that pain get worse? That's something that only time will tell."

Andover is delaying its Town Meeting from April 29 to May 26. The change will be disruptive for citizens who want to have their town business out of the way before youth sports and other activities pick up in the spring, said Andover Town Manager Reginald S. Stapczynski. The town has an open Town Meeting format, in which thousands of residents often pack the annual session.

"There are a lot of young families in Town Meeting," Stapczynski said. "By the end of May people are into their gardens, they're into little leagues."

But Stapczynski said Andover's first Town Meeting delay since 1990 was necessary because of the uncertainty, even though there is no guarantee the town will know how much local aid to expect, even in late May.

"It was a gamble," he said of the decision.

So far, officials in Andover are estimating they would need to cut nearly 70 jobs. Half of the town's workers have agreed to 1 percent salary cuts to stave off layoffs.

City officials are also anticipating intense debate over budgets.

In Boston, Menino will present a budget to the City Council Wednesday that will include layoffs of hundreds of teachers to help close an anticipated budget deficit that exceeds $100 million. Unions are expected to pressure individual council members to stave off layoffs.

Lisa Signori, Menino's chief of administration and finance, said 21 unions have so far agreed to accept a wage freeze, saving the city about $8.5 million.

That's far short of the $60 million the mayor had hoped to save through an across-the-board wage freeze. The city's largest unions, representing police officers and teachers, have not ruled out agreeing to the freeze, but have ignored the mayor's deadline, saying they need more time to analyze the budget. This delay has prompted the mayor's office to present a budget proposal without concessions from these unions.

"I expect this to be very fluid for a couple more months," said Sam Tyler, executive director of the business-funded Boston Municipal Research Bureau.

"And it's not just Boston. Every city and town is in the same situation."