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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
 Posted - 01/21/2011 : 1:04:52 PM
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Patrick proposes cuts in non-school aid, changes in municipal worker health care.
By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff
Governor Deval Patrick says his state budget proposal will call for a 7 percent reduction in non-school aid to cities and towns, but the municipalities can save more money than that, if they implement changes he's proposing that will affect city and town employees' health care.
Patrick revealed his plans during an address this morning before the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
He announced that he would propose increases in state aid for schools, special education, and road repairs, as well as a grant program to encourage regionalization. But he said he was cutting unrestricted local aid by $65 million, to $833.9 million.
Administration officials said the reduction would be offset by health plan changes to rein in the exorbitant cost of providing health care to municipal employees, retirees, and elected officials. Health care spending has become a major drag on city and town budgets.
The proposal, which would need legislative approval to take effect, would require all cities and towns to either join the state's insurance program, the Group Insurance Commission, or put in place a similar plan of their own by the start of the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. The measure would also require municipalities to move eligible retirees into Medicare, which many still do not do, further driving up costs for taxpayers.
The proposals would save the communities more than $120 million, outweighing the cuts in non-school aid, officials said.
The big question, however, remains how much say labor unions will have in these decisions. Currently, labor has to sign off before communities can join the GIC or design new local health care plans. Patrick has been resistant to calls to take away unions' power to block changes.
Patrick's administration said in a news release that unions would "have the opportunity to collaborate" in overhauling health care plans, but did not detail how that would happen.
“This proposal is a critical step towards delivering material savings in health care costs to cities and towns at a time when they need it most,” Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez said in a statement. “In this challenging fiscal environment, taxpayers can no longer be asked to fund overly generous health benefits at the expense of critical local services.”
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2011 : 10:14:38 AM
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SEC looks at Cahill, Goldman Sachs
By Frank Phillips
Globe Staff January 24, 2011
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has delivered subpoenas to the state treasurer’s office in a wide-ranging request for documents concerning dealings between investment banking giant Goldman Sachs and former treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, onetime top staff members, and former campaign aides, according to an official briefed on the document request.
The agency’s subpoenas, which seek e-mails, phone records, schedules, files, and memorandums, come just over a month after Goldman Sachs removed itself from two state bond deals in Massachusetts following the disclosure that a vice president at the firm, Neil Morrison, was active in Cahill’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign, which could violate federal securities regulations. Morrison had previously served as a top deputy to Cahill in the treasurer’s office.
The SEC served the papers just before the close of business Friday, catching the new treasurer, Steven Grossman, and his staff off guard.
A spokesman for Grossman said the treasurer would not comment on details of what federal regulators are seeking but said his staff is quickly assembling the requested material.
“We are cooperating fully and promptly with the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s request for documents consistent with our commitment to running a transparent and accountable Treasury,’’ the spokesman, Al Gordon, wrote in an e-mail yesterday. “Due to the nature of this matter, we cannot comment further.’’
A spokesman for Goldman Sachs, Michael DuVally, said yesterday the firm would have no comment. Cahill also declined to comment, telling the Globe he had not yet been informed of the subpoenas. “This is the first I heard of it, so I can’t really comment,’’ he said. The SEC also would not comment on the subpoenas. It is not clear from the subpoenas alone what direction the federal investigation is taking. An official who has been briefed on the documents said that they refer specifically to Goldman Sachs and seek all communications between Cahill’s office and Morrison and the investment bank dating back to June 1, 2008. The SEC, the official said, also asked for documents from the state Lottery and School Building Assistance authority, both of which are under the treasurer’s control.
The breadth of the subpoenas suggests federal regulators could be looking at possible connections between Cahill’s work as treasurer and his gubernatorial campaign, which was the subject of a separate investigation launched last year by the state attorney general’s office. Named in the subpoenas are Cahill; his former chief of staff, Scott Campbell, who left state government last year to help manage Cahill’s campaign; deputy treasurer Colin MacNaught, who oversaw bond issuances under Cahill; Amy Birmingham, a top aide on Cahill’s gubernatorial campaign; and political finance consultant Laurie Bosio, a major political fund-raiser for Cahill in his bid for governor.
Morrison’s role in the campaign, which he has downplayed, could trigger SEC regulations that sharply restrict public-finance bankers from contributing to political figures and elected officials who issue public bonds.
The Globe reported last June that Morrison negotiated a $455.9 million bond with a state water-pollution control board that Cahill chairs and operates within the treasurer’s office.
As part of a civil lawsuit Cahill filed against ex-advisers during the gubernatorial campaign, Morrison was identified as a “top political adviser’’ to Cahill. Documents filed in the suitincluded a copy of an e-mail that Morrison sent from his private account to two consultants for thecampaign, in which he accepts, on Cahill’s behalf, the terms of a contract between the campaign and the consultants. Such work could be considered an in-kind contribution to the Cahill committee. If it was done on company time and if its value exceeds the $250 limit set by the SEC, Morrison, under federal regulations, could face fines and lose his broker’s license. The e-mail was sent during working hours on Friday, Aug. 13. Morrison, who is leaving his position at Goldman Sachs later this month, declined to comment yesterday when asked about the subpoenas or the campaign work. In an abbreviated response to Bloomberg News last month about the issue, hereferred to his political role as minor. There was no “formal role with the Cahill committee,’’ he said. The SEC could impose penalties on Goldman Sachs, including banning it from underwriting bondofferings by the state treasurer’s office for two years, according to federal regulations. Complicating the issue is Morrison’s role in negotiating the bond deal with the Massachusetts Water Pollution Abatement Trust board last spring. The banking firm earned an estimated $2 million in fees on the deal. The subpoenas also seek documents from the trust and its dealings with Goldman Sachs.
Morrison, a former Taunton city councilor, joined the Treasury staff after Cahill was elected to his first term in 2002, rising to become first deputy treasurer. He left in 2006 and joined the Swiss banking firm UBS. He was hired by Goldman Sachs in July 2008. The decision by the water-pollution control board to give Goldman Sachs the bond work last spring came just months after the SEC had charged Goldman, one of the most influential and prestigious investment firms in the country, with fraud in a federal suit. The regulators argued that Goldman’s investment banking division had created a system that allowed the company to bet against the mortgage securities it had sold to some of its clients. In July, the firm paid a $550 million fine to settle the suit. It also launched an advertising campaign to repair its image.
Although some state agencies were concerned about contracting with the company, Goldman Sachs had also landed work last year managing bond sales for the MBTA and Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency. But late last year, Goldman Sachs, concerned about the revelations that Morrison was involved in the political campaign, suddenly withdrew. Frank Phillips can be reached at phillips@globe.com.
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2011 : 6:07:56 PM
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STONEHAM
Trash fee revived to limit cutbacks
Would start July 1 without tax hike
By John Laidler
Globe Correspondent / February 6, 2011
Faced with steep budget cuts, including closing the Stoneham Public Library, the town’s Board of Selectmen is looking to generate new revenue through a trash fee.
By a 4-1 vote, the board recently approved a plan — with conditions — to reinstitute a townwide fee for curbside trash collection starting July 1.
Selectmen made the move after Town Administrator David Ragucci prepared a spending plan for the 2012 fiscal year that included $2.6 million in cuts that he said would be needed to achieve a balanced budget. The new trash fee would raise $1.6 million, according to his calculations.
The selectmen’s decision calls for Stoneham’s Tri-Board, comprising the selectmen, School Committee, and Finance and Advisory Board, to agree by March 1 on a plan to achieve balanced budgets for the next five years, and states that the trash fee would not be imposed if residents approve a property-tax increase at the town election in April.
If assessed uniformly, the annual fee would be $252 per household, but selectmen said the actual charge may vary if, for example, they were to adopt a discount for older residents.
In Stoneham, selectmen determine whether to impose a trash-collection fee on an annual basis, so the one approved Jan. 18 would be for fiscal 2012 only. The last time the town charged a separate trash fee was in the 2008 fiscal year.
Selectman Paul Rotondi, the board’s chairman, said he has opposed a trash fee in the past, but opted to support it this year because “the deficit was so great . . . the effect on services would be so dramatic that I felt we had to raise the revenue.’’
But Rotondi, who proposed the conditions, said, “I wanted to make sure if we asked taxpayers to pay this bill, we would give them a guarantee we would have our house in order.’’
Ragucci said that without the trash fee revenue, the town would fall $2.6 million short of what it would need to maintain the same level of services as this year.
In addition to closing the library, his proposal would reduce the Council on Aging director’s full-time position to part time, and allot the school system $1.6 million less than what administrators have said they need to maintain level services. Spring and fall curbside leaf pickups also would be cut.
Ragucci said Stoneham has been hard-hit by reductions in state aid, noting that the figure has fallen by $2 million since fiscal year 2007.
He said the town also has had to absorb increased health coverage and pension costs, although the rise in its health premiums has been eased by the decision several years ago to join the state’s Group Insurance Commission.
Even with the trash fee’s revenue, Ragucci noted, the town still needs to cut $1 million from its spending next year. With other departments shouldering most of the cuts in past years, Ragucci said, he plans to ask the school district to absorb the bulk of this round of reductions.
Selectman John DePinto, the lone board member to vote against the trash fee, said he wants to see the town rectify its fiscal situation before asking voters for more money.
DePinto said he voted for the trash fee six or seven years ago, and at that time said he would not do so again “until I thought the town had done everything it could to control costs.’’
He said while some town departments have made that effort, not all have done so.
“Especially with the recession the way it is — we’ve had 34 foreclosures in town the last few years, people are up against it — I think we should do our part fiscally,’’ he said.
Selectman Richard Gregorio said the trash fee is needed to carry the town through what he said would be a “cliff’’ year, noting that a combination of factors — such as the drop in state aid and the loss of onetime revenues, including federal stimulus money — is putting unusual stress on municipal budgets.
“It’s really a very difficult year, and without the trash fee will be a tremendous hit to services,’’ he said. “I know the community does not want to pay increased taxes. I support that. At the same time, it’s difficult for the community to accept a tremendous cut in services.’’
Rotondi cautioned that the trash fee will not take effect if the Tri-Board cannot reach agreement on a five-year financial plan.
But he said he has already drafted a proposal that the combined boards will take up at a meeting on Feb. 17, and he is hopeful an agreement can be reached .
Rotondi said his proposal would establish a framework for allocating shares of the town’s annual revenues among its various departments. The share figures would then be used as the basis for allocating funds, and any cutbacks, each year.
“It’s a simple plan that guarantees a balanced budget regardless of what the revenues are,’’ he said.
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2011 : 6:12:00 PM
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Grossman taps donors with state business
Quietly raised thousands despite transparency pledge
STEVEN GROSSMAN
By Frank Phillips
Globe Staff / February 6, 2011
State Treasurer Steven Grossman, who won election last fall on a platform of transparency and reform, personally solicited campaign donations for the state Democratic Party last year from lawyers and executives of firms that now have business before him, seek treasury work, or are regulated by his office.
In turn, Grossman received hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial support from the party.
The link between Grossman and contributions to the Democrats recently came to light when his political committee detailed in campaign finance filings the extensive financial support it received from the party. Grossman and party leaders say they did not coordinate Grossman’s fund-raising and the party spending on his behalf, but the arrangement provided the candidate for treasurer a way to quietly raise more money for his successful race against Republican Karyn Polito.
Both Grossman and the state party said they were unable to provide a list of all the contributions he personally sought. A Globe review of party contributors revealed a host of donors who do business, are seeking contracts, or are regulated by the treasurer’s office. In some cases, Grossman acknowledged going to them for funds.
Among the funds Grossman helped bring in for the state party were thousands of dollars from executives of Scientific Games, the gaming firm that has a $12 million-a-year contract to supply instant tickets to the state Lottery, which Grossman now chairs.
He also solicited contributions from executives of liquor distributors, which are regulated by his office, and from at least one law firm seeking work with the treasury on pension fund litigation.
Neither Grossman nor the party broke any campaign finance laws, but they used what campaign finance reform advocates say is a loophole that allows politicians to skirt disclosure laws and limits on contributions to candidates.
In an interview, Grossman acknowledged that he made numerous calls to potential contributors but said his fund-raising was part of a joint effort with Governor Deval Patrick and other party leaders to build Democratic coffers for the fall campaign.
“Nobody should have any illusion that they would get special treatment from Steve Grossman for contributions to my campaign or the Democratic Party,’’ he said.
The Democratic State Committee revealed in its year-end report last month that it spent more than $728,000 on Grossman’s campaign, most of it on radio and television advertising in the final weeks of the race.
Grossman, a former state and national Democratic Party chairman, was the only candidate on the Democratic ticket besides Patrick who received substantial financial help from the party. Patrick, who raised the bulk of the party’s money, got $2.5 million for his gubernatorial campaign.
Suzanne Bump, the Democratic state auditor candidate who won a tough race against a Republican opponent, received no financial help, records show. Attorney General Martha Coakley got $46,890 in assistance from the party, and Secretary of State William F. Galvin received nothing.
Grossman and party officials said there was no formal arrangement between the treasurer’s campaign and the state committee.
“There was no explicit, ‘You help us, we will return the favor,’ ’’ said state Democratic Party chairman John Walsh.
But some of the biggest bills — $620,000 the party gave to Grossman’s media consultant, Joe Slade White & Co. — were paid about the same time the donations were deposited into the party’s account.
Grossman said the party determined that his candidacy was particularly vulnerable because Polito had the resources to mount a major advertising campaign. (Grossman, however, has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to his own political campaigns.)
“If the state party hadn’t leveled the playing field, we may well have ended up with a Republican in the treasurer’s office,’’ he said.
Walsh said, “I had to make a decision on how we used our resources. Polito was up early and with a lot of ads.’’
In Bump’s race, Walsh said, the party used its organization to help.
But the fund-raising structure raises questions about Grossman’s vow, both as a candidate and as treasurer, to be open, candid, and transparent. He was the first major candidate to post his ethics disclosure forms on his campaign website and says he will put state’s financial transactions on-line. During the fall race, however, the public could not know the extent to which the party was helping to finance his campaign, partly with the help of donors with an interest in treasury business.
By using the state party, Grossman not only avoided immediately revealing the source of some of his campaign funds; he was also able to circumvent the $500-per-person limit on donations to political candidates. Individuals can donate up to $5,000 a year to political parties.
Executives at some of the companies also contributed to Grossman’s predecessor, Timothy P. Cahill, but they gave to Cahill’s campaign committee. That limited the donations to $500 each and tied them, in public filings, directly to Cahill. In Grossman’s case, some executives gave to his campaign committee as well as the state Democratic Party.
After Grossman reached out to Scientific Games, executives gave the state Democratic Party at least $22,500. The firm, which provides lottery products around the world, wins its Massachusetts Lottery contracts through competitive bidding. Scientific Games was at the center of a controversy in 2008, when the Globe reported that it was raising campaign money for Cahill and paying a close associate of Cahill’s to lobby as the firm sought to keep its contract with the Lottery.
A spokesman said Scientific Games would have no comment.
Attorneys at a law firm that has been seeking state pension fund work, Barrack, Rodos & Bacine of Philadelphia, donated $20,000 to the state party at Grossman’s request.
Grossman said that Leonard Barrack, the lead partner in the firm, is a longtime friend who worked with him in Jewish philanthropy and Democratic Party fund-raising. Grossman said he had no knowledge of the firm’s interest in contracting with the state pension fund board, which he chairs. But he was adamant that the donations and his relationship with Barrack will make no difference in his decision-making.
At least two executives at liquor wholesalers — whose businesses are regulated by the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, which is under the treasurer’s office — donated to the party at Grossman’s urging, Grossman said. Robert Epstein, president of Horizon Beverage, gave $5,000 on Sept. 29, while Harvey Allen, the chief executive of M.S. Walker Inc., gave $2,500 six days earlier.
Grossman said he has known both men for decades, partly through work in the Jewish community and socially. He noted that he opposed the November ballot question that repealed a liquor tax, which the industry — including both Allen and Epstein — strongly supported.
Other big donations to the Democrats came from two law firms that perform legal work for the state pension fund, donations Grossman said he did not solicit.
Lawrence A. Sucharow, chairman of Labaton Sucharow, a New York-based law firm that specializes in class-action securities lawsuits, said the $12,500 he and his partners donated has nothing do with trying keep its current contract, which, like other similar deals, is competitively bid. Sucharow said he and his colleagues make numerous political donations and said he does not recall who asked for contributions to the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
“If we ID people who fit the needs of our clients, we let our partners know that,’’ Sucharow said.
Grossman said he has never met Sucharow and did not solicit the donations.
Thornton & Naumes, a Boston firm that acts as local counsel for Labaton Sucharow on state pension lawsuits, gave the state party at least $28,000. Its cofounder, Michael Thornton, who donates to Democrats around the country, said he cannot recall who solicited the funds. Grossman said he did not ask Thornton for the money.
Frank Phillips can be reached at phillips@globe.com.
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2011 : 10:07:23 AM
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I really hope this does not have anything to do with rumors of change for the stadium on the parkway. I just cant see hurting current business owners who are there now. It does not make sense to do this. If this whole plan is "supposedly" going to be done in 6 months,.....and if anything comes forward in the mean-time for development, just reject it but don't make the current business owners suffer, who are paying an enormous tax rare already!
Everett
Builders halted to assess zoning
Six-month stay frustrates owners
By John Laidler
Globe Correspondent / February 13, 2011
Everett has placed a temporary halt on construction along Revere Beach Parkway while the city considers zoning changes that could help shape future growth in the area.
The six-month moratorium, proposed by Mayor Carlo DeMaria Jr., was approved by the Board of Aldermen on Dec. 30 and by the Common Council on Jan. 18.
It prohibits new construction and demolition along the parkway, which is Route 16 in Everett, from Eastern Avenue at the Chelsea line west to Second Street.
The moratorium, which allows minor repairs to existing properties, would also encompass the area north of the parkway to Chelsea Street and south of it to the commuter rail tracks.
“This is a valuable area of the city, and we want to make sure that we’re developing Route 16 and the parkway for the best possible uses,’’ DeMaria said in a prepared statement.
The mayor has proposed creating a permanent overlay district encompassing the moratorium area as the way for effecting the zoning changes. An overlay district defines specific development rules in a given area while leaving the underlying zoning intact.
The overlay plan recently hit a snag when the Planning Board, to whom aldermen referred the proposal, voted not to recommend it to the City Council.
But Planning Board chairman Frederick Cafasso said his panel did so because “at the present time, we didn’t have enough information to make a qualitative decision on that issue.’’
Currently, the overlay district proposal delineates the geographic area of the proposed district, with no details on allowed uses or other rules.
Cafasso said his board might be receptive to supporting the plan later if it has more information. The board’s recommendation goes to the council in a joint convention on March 14.
Matt Laidlaw, a spokesman for DeMaria, said more details would be developed by the city over the coming months with the help of a consultant and with input from business and property owners along the parkway.
Marzie Galazka, the city’s director of community development, said the moratorium was not triggered by any specific development plan, but is instead intended as a proactive move in anticipation of future growth.
“We want to make sure the entire city is part of guiding the redevelopment of this very important transportation corridor of the city,’’ she said, noting that the roadway is a key link between inner-core communities and Boston and provides access to the Chelsea Market produce center, shopping malls, and the Wellington MBTA station.
Galazka said the zoning effort on the parkway would be the first phase of what the city hopes will be a larger effort to revamp its zoning rules, many of which she said are ripe for updating.
“We want to work with businesses to see the Revere Beach Parkway redeveloped to its highest and best use,’’ she said, adding it would help businesses succeed and generate jobs and local tax revenues.
She said there has been one recent development on the parkway, the opening of Restaurant Depot, a food and supply wholesaler, on the site of the former city public works yard on Boston Street.
Following City Council rules, the mayor’s moratorium and overlay district proposals were placed before aldermen on his behalf by the board’s then-president, Ward 5 member Robert Van Campen.
Van Campen said last week that he supports the moratorium and the zoning effort.
“If you look at the landscape of Everett for probably the last four or five years, short of the Restaurant Depot we have had virtually no meaningful economic development in the city,’’ he said. “And so any time we try to reshuffle our tool box to spur development, I’m all in favor of that.’’
Ward 4 Councilor L. Charles DiPerri also supports the mayor’s initiative. “In my view, the area is probably getting ripe for development and it may be a good time for the city to sit back and take a look at it to see exactly what . . . type of development we would like to see on the parkway.’’
Bobby Laquidara, executive director of the Everett Chamber of Commerce, denounced the moratorium as “ludicrous.’’
Laquidara questioned the wisdom of halting growth in a city he contended is already “clearly struggling financially due to its ridiculously high commercial tax rate,’’ which is $43.74 per $1,000 valuation. “Why would you make a business entity pay such an exorbitant commercial tax rate on a piece of property they were not allowed to develop?’’
Laquidara said he knows of a property owner who purchased a piece of land on the parkway with the intent of locating a business only to learn afterward that he must wait six months to develop his property.
Van Campen said he thought six months provided enough time for the administration to map out potential zoning changes to the parkway but “not such an extended period of time that it overburdens property owners down there.
“I would suggest to the administration that we get moving very quickly, because if zoning changes do not occur within the six-month moratorium, I can’t support another moratorium.’’
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2011 : 1:52:59 PM
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Terrance Kennedy is this guys attorney??
Former State Senator James Marzilli’s defense attorney and prosecutors will hold a status hearing with the judge presiding over his case Feb. 22, the Lowell Superior Court’s clerk’s office said. A new trial date will be selected at that time.
An earlier report said the trial would resume Feb. 22. That information was incorrect.
Marzilli was arrested in June 2008 and charged with several counts of allegedly assaulting women in Lowell and attempting to escape police. His trial has been rescheduled multiple times since he pleaded not guilty a month after his arrest to four charges of annoying and accosting a person of the opposite sex, attempting to commit a crime (indecent assault and battery), disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Attorneys met in the presiding judge’s chambers Jan. 20, where they selected the date. The clerk’s office said earlier this month that a meeting with the judge could mean the defendant wanted to change his plea, but Marzilli’s attorney Terrence Kennedy, who won a seat on the Governor’s Council in November, said the possibility was not very likely.
Editor's note: This story originially reported that Marzilli's trial was to begin Feb. 22. |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 02/24/2011 : 09:52:43 AM
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Fiscal squeeze tightens in 2012
Local leaders see deeper cuts ahead
Buffeted by reductions in local aid, a loss of federal stimulus money, steep health insurance and other cost increases, and a sluggish economy, area cities and towns are bracing for another year of financial stress.
As they begin to craft their spending plans for fiscal 2012, some municipal leaders warn that a combination of challenges is leaving them with few good options for balancing budgets.
“The fiscal 2012 budget is very problematic,’’ said the Saugus Town Manager, Andrew Bisignani, noting that the town faces a nearly $2 million gap between projected revenues and expenses.
Bisignani recently presented selectmen a menu of four options for closing the gap: asking the teachers union to defer a contracted pay raise; seeking a Proposition 2 1/2 override; carrying out deep spending cuts that would include closing a fire station, reducing police presence and reducing hours at the senior center and the library; and imposing a trash fee.
Revere Mayor Thomas G. Ambrosino said his city faces a $3 million to $4 million gap between projected expenditures and revenues in fiscal 2012 for its nonschool departments alone. “We are going to have to cover that with some combination of reserves and cutbacks in personnel and services,’’ Ambrosino said, noting that the schools also poten tially face cuts.
Melrose Mayor Robert J. Dolan, who recently completed a two-year stint as president of the Massachusetts Mayors Association, said fiscal 2012 looms as “an incredibly difficult’’ year for communities across the state.
Given that reality, Dolan said it is imperative for state lawmakers to adopt legislation giving towns the relief they are seeking from soaring health and pension costs.
“If they don’t tackle municipal insurance costs and pension costs, then you are going to see historic reductions’’ in municipal jobs and services, he said.
Dolan said Melrose will have a tight budget year, but its situation is relatively stable due to the city having joined the health insurance program run by the state Group Insurance Commission and the state’s pension system, and a wage freeze agreed to by employee unions for this fiscal year.
Beverly Mayor William F. Scanlon is anticipating a “very, very difficult year’’ for his city unless lawmakers adopt Governor Deval Patrick’s proposal to provide municipalities health care cost relief. The measure would require communities, after union bargaining, to join the GIC or adopt a comparable plan by July 1.
“In recent years, the fringe benefits costs, particularly health care costs, have essentially eaten almost all the [city’s] new net money,’’ Scanlon said. If that continues next year, he said, “we will be in a terrible situation. We are really at a point where, if we take many more people out of the organization, we are not going to be able to provide adequate services.’’
In Gloucester, Mayor Carolyn Kirk said the relative austerity of her budget will hinge on the outcome of her negotiations with unions over cost-saving changes to the city’s health insurance program.
If she is able to secure union agreements, “the best-case scenario’’ is a fiscal 2012 budget that maintains services at existing levels minus a $900,000 loss in federal stimulus funds that the School Department would have to absorb, Kirk said.
Without a union agreement, “we have about a $2 million gap we have to make up,’’ Kirk said, and that would mean job cuts.
Malden Mayor Richard C. Howard called fiscal 2012 very challenging.
Howard said the city balanced its previous two budgets with the help of onetime resources, including federal stimulus money for the schools and money saved through one-year health care concessions by some unions.
To balance next year’s budget, the city will have to identify similar resources or “make the necessary cuts,’’ Howard said, noting that he hopes to get unions to agree to health care changes over the long-term.
Peabody Mayor Michael J. Bonfanti said he has asked his department heads to prepare budgets at current levels and provide no funding for pay raises.
“We’re all in a period of uncertainty, so we’re trying to be conservative and err on the side of real caution,’’ Bonfanti said of Peabody and municipalities in general.
In Amesbury, Mayor Thatcher W. Kezer III said the city faces a $450,000 to $500,000 budget gap on the general government side. He said the schools, due to the end of stimulus money, face a gap of about $2.6 million. He said the School Department is already discussing how to close its deficit, while the city is about to begin similar discussions.
“This is going to be one of the toughest budget years,’’ he said, but he added that the city has “more options now’’ because of previous steps it took to become more efficient, such as reorganizing departments.
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 02/25/2011 : 4:45:19 PM
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| Why is there hardly ever an Everett quote in one of these regional articles? |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2011 : 12:36:25 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by tetris
Why is there hardly ever an Everett quote in one of these regional articles?
Because everything is just wonderful... |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2011 : 12:41:54 PM
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I give all the parishioners of St. Therese Parish a lot of credit. They never gave up and I hope the parish will re-open.
Hopes rise that churches will stay open
By Kathy McCabe
Globe Staff / February 27, 2011
Catholics long struggling to save four closed parishes in Everett, Lowell, Lynn, and Revere say they see a ray of hope from Rome, where the Vatican recently ruled that some churches closed in Western Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania may reopen as worship sites.
St. Therese in Everett, St. Jeanne d’Arc in Lowell, St. Michael the Archangel in Lynn, and Our Lady of Lourdes in Revere — three of which had appeals to reopen their parishes rejected by the Vatican last year — plan now to file new appeals, asking only for their churches to remain open, parishioners say.
The Vatican rulings come as the Boston Archdiocese plots the future of church buildings of seven parishes where parishioners also contested their closings, including St. Therese, St. Jeanne d’Arc, and Our Lady of Lourdes. The parishes were among 66 closed by Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley since 2004 in sweeping downsizing.
St. Michael’s parishioners will meet on Wednesday to discuss steps needed to file a new appeal. “We want our voices heard,’’ said Joan Noble, 74, a lifelong parishioner, who has helped to organize weekly prayer vigils on the steps of the former Polish parish. “We don’t want to see St. Michael’s, which we built and paid for, used for anything but a church.’’
John Verrengia, head of the Save Our Lady of Lourdes Committee, is buoyed by the rulings. “What the Vatican has said is ‘Yes, you can suppress the parish, but you can’t just do what you like with the church,’ ’’ Verrengia said. “That’s pretty exciting for us.’’
In separate decisions, the Vatican’s Congregation of the Clergy ruled recently that three parishes in Western Massachusetts, four in Allentown, Pa., and one in Buffalo could be closed but that their church buildings must be “used in some manner as determined by the bishop,’’ according to a statement by the Diocese of Springfield.
Many shuttered local churches have been reborn as housing, such as St. Peter’s in Gloucester, or sold to other Christian denominations, such as St. Alphonsus in Beverly. But churches in the seven contested parishes have sat idle for six-plus years, including St. Therese, where parishioners have been holding prayer vigils since a closing Mass held on Oct. 26, 2004.
O’Malley now is asking for comments on a possible conversion of the church buildings from sacred to secular use, according to an archdiocese statement. Former parishioners are asked to fill out a survey online at You must be logged in to see this link. or to print out a written survey from the website, You must be logged in to see this link. The deadline is March 18.
“Through this process we seek to provide an opportunity for the local Catholic community to comment in advance of a decision by Cardinal Sean,’’ the Rev. Richard M. Erikson, vicar general for the archdiocese, said in the statement.
St. Michael’s is not included in the survey because a decision about its future use is still being reviewed by the pastor and finance council at Sacred Heart Parish in West Lynn, which was the receiving parish for St. Michael’s assets, said Terrence Donilon, archdiocese spokesman.
Some former parishioners said they will cite the Vatican decisions in their comments. “The archdiocese already knows what we want — reopen the church,’’ said Verrengia, 57, who said the Save Our Lady’s committee will send a formal statement. “Anything short of that, we won’t support.’’
Nick Giacobbe, a parishioner at Our Lady for 52 years, said elderly residents of Revere’s Beachmont area need a neighborhood church.
“It’s so convenient for older people to go to that church,’’ said Giacobbe, who is 79. “There are so many older people, right in that area, who have given up going to church. Most of them don’t drive, and they don’t want to say to someone, ‘Will you pick me up?’ ’’
Parishioners at St. Jeanne d’Arc believe reopening the church for worship would help heal old wounds. “We have seen a tremendous loss of parishioners in our area, due to the lingering resentment over closing a vibrant, active, financially solvent church,’’ said Joseph Clermont, former head of the parish finance council. “I believe the reopening . . . as a worship site would go a long way to healing these wounds and bringing people back to church.
“I’m going to tell him to reopen us,’’ said Joan Shepard, 77, of St. Therese. “We’re encouraging parishioners to speak out, to let [the archdiocese] know exactly how they feel.’’
She said about 18 people are active in the vigil, holding prayer vigils on most days, unless the weather is bad. “We get there as often as we can,’’ said Shepard. “It’s been hard this winter with all the snow and ice.’’ Lee Pratto, who has slept overnight at the church several times, said the red-brick church is still needed in North Everett. “We have so many new immigrants,’’ she said. “We have Brazilians, Haitians. They walk into our church and ask, ‘Where can we pray?’ And I say to them, ‘You are welcome here any time you need to pray. That’s what this church is all about.’
Kathy McCabe can be reached at kmccabe@globe.com.
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2011 : 3:08:37 PM
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Man who runs bus service accused of sexually assaulting Everett girl
Sergio Lara, a man who runs a school transportation service, has been charged with sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl placed in his car.
Police in Revere, Massachusetts arrested Lara on March 2.
He was arraigned in Chelsea District Court on Thursday on one count each of rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a child.
He was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail and ordered to return to court on March 31.
Lara is the owner and operator of Maya Transportation, which shuttles children to and from schools in Revere, Chelsea, and East Boston. One of his passengers, a five-year-old Everett girl, told her mother on Tuesday that Lara had sexually assaulted her on the way home from school. The girl's parents took her to an area hospital the same evening and notified police. |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2011 : 10:49:42 AM
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Pols Spread Holiday Cheer Using Campaign Funds
Team 5 Investigates Reviews State Reports for Cards, Gifts, Dinners
POSTED: 1:06 pm EDT March 15, 2011
UPDATED: 6:57 am EDT March 16, 2011
BOSTON -- Are you still paying off bills from last Christmas?
Many local politicians aren't.
Team 5 Investigates discovered they've already paid those bills using campaign money you may have donated.
State law offers wide latitude in how campaign donations are spent, requiring only that expenditures enhance "the political future of the candidate."
But the law also requires candidates to detail those expenses in reports filed periodically with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
Check Your Legislator's Expenditures
Team 5 Investigates asked Boston City Councilor Rob Consalvo about the $1,501 he spent from his fund to make a 31-second video wishing voters happy holidays.
"We think it was totally appropriate," Consalvo said. "It's the little things that count when you want to get reelected."
Consalvo also spent $1,929 on holiday cards.
"I can tell you," he explained, "my constituents, the elderly, families --- they expect a Christmas card."
According to campaign finance reports, former state Sen. Richard Tisei, R-Wakefield, spent $3,789 on holiday cards. Former State Auditor Joe DeNucci's bill was nearly double: $6,180.
"That's a lot of holiday cards," said Jeffrey Berry, a political science professor at Tufts University. "But think of them not as holiday cards. Think of them as campaign flyers with a Christmas tree in the background. That's the purpose."
But Berry questions expensive meals and gifts.
"The state may not say it's crossed an ethical boundary," he said. "In my own mind, I think it's the wrong thing to do and the wrong use of campaign dollars."
Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral billed her campaign account $2,098 for takeout from Maggiano's Little Italy in Boston. A spokesman said the food was for staff working on Christmas Eve.
Rep. Angelo Scaccia, D-Readville, spent $2,422 in campaign money on Christmas gifts and a party.
Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, D-Jamaica Plain, paid a $844 tab for a Christmas dinner with his staff at Eastern Standard.
"The people that work for us are hard-working people," he explained. "They don't make much money. And they do a lot."
Team 5 Investigates also discovered a $1,390 bill for a Christmas party that Rep. Carlo Basile, D-East Boston, hosted at Ducali.
And Rep. Stephen DiNatale treated other legislators to a $750 dinner at Joe Tecce's Ristorante.
Campaign contributions also paid for some holiday lunches.
Rep. Louis Kafka, D-Stoughton, spent $391 for staff to eat at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Rep. Ronald Mariano, D-Quincy, hosted a $533 luncheon at Davio's. And Rep. Bradley Jones, R-North Reading, took out his staff for a $536 meal at Maggiano's.
"That seems to me to be inappropriate because those aren't people you're trying to get to vote for you," Berry said. "It just seems like a bonus to your office."
But Consalvo disagreed.
"They're overworked and underpaid," he said. "They probably work 75-80 hours a week. I think it's totally appropriate."
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2011 : 11:21:56 AM
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Interesting article. I didn't know Catherine Gover is Sal's Treasurer.
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CPF ID#: 15031
Office Sought: Senate, Middlesex, Suffolk & Essex
Residential Address: 125 Clarence Street Everett MA 02149
Committee Name: DiDomenico Committee
Treasurer Name: Catherine P. Gover
Committee Address: 127 Clarence Street Everett MA 02149
Beginning Balance: $2,006.99
Total Receipts this period: $14,666.78
Subtotal: $16,673.77
Total Expenditures this period: $16,640.94
Ending Balance: $32.83
Total Inkind contributions this period: $0.00
Total Outstanding Liabilities: $38,416.03
Name of Bank(s) Used: |
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kittycat
Member
66 Posts |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2011 : 2:08:09 PM
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I don't think the loan repayment's a big deal. It seems to be a standard political practice for a candidate to loan his campaign money and pay it back to themselves later. In this case, the loan made shows up on a prior report and he also put much more money than that into his own campaign that was not paid back to him.
What I find much more significant is the amount of money that Sal's campaign still owes and the small amount of money he has on hand. Probably not unusual but you just wonder some times how we can elect these people to office when they can't balance their own budgets. |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2011 : 3:13:20 PM
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I don't think the loan repayment is a big deal either, but I'm glad it's posted. At least it shows that Carlo did the same thing that the papers wrote about RVC.
As for Sal's budget.... irresponsible. |
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Boston Globe 2011
