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Each
year it has been my practice to begin a budget message by stating
that it is my pleasure to present that year's budget recommendations.
Unfortunately though, presenting this budget to you is anything
but a pleasure. This year, given the state of affairs at the federal,
state and local levels, it is actually disappointing to have to
make these recommendations. It is a time when we in Walpole should
clearly be looking ahead instead of stepping back. It is a time
when we should be working to enhance and develop our services rather
than taking them apart. And it is a time when we should be using
our annual budget process to furrow new common ground on town funding
versus having departments compete for every dollar available. As
we gather today, our Fiscal Year 2004 budget contains cuts so significant
that up to 55 employees or more will no longer be employed by the
Town of Walpole on this July 1st . Expense budgets have been trimmed
so tightly that any unexpected expense next year will likely require
a funding transfer where currently these types of surprises are
absorbed by each department. These cuts will result in some level
of service disruption that will increase the risk of inconveniences
felt by our "customers". Yet despite the dark clouds of
fiscal uncertainty and uneasiness, we can feel reassured knowing
that our silver lining is the men and women who make up our department
heads, staff, and board and committee members of the Town of Walpole.
These dedicated individuals will always work to deliver the highest
quality and most professional service possible. We will make essential
services our priority and will attempt to present business as usual,
albeit somewhat slower, as people experience today. Simply put,
this will be a very unpleasant period of time, but we will get through
it.
Once
again this year, department heads prepared their budget plans during
the months of November and December. On the municipal side, the
direction was to develop a budget that was need based, with only
those positions included as part of the 5-year staffing plan to
be added as new requests. However, during this time we began hearing
about more dire projections of the state budget status, which in
turn began to raise concerns that our review process would be anything
but normal or easy. The information that we were hearing, and to
a degree still hear, was very contradictory. The incoming Romney
team was predicting major shortfalls, a point disputed by then outgoing
Governor Swift until even she changed her viewpoint during her final
days. In early January, Walpole's own legislative delegation met
with the Board of Selectmen and they too stressed the near certainty
of local aid cuts, even going so far as to suggest that said cuts
could reach as high as 20%. On January 10th, Governor Romney advised
the Massachusetts Municipal Association that the situation is severe,
and it is his intention to balance budgets via reductions, even
including cuts in the current fiscal year 2003. And in fact those
cuts have become a reality today with $279,969 reduced from our
FY'03 local aid. Thus the circumstances have indeed changed, and
not for the better, since our budget preparation directives were
given in November. With up to a $3 billion dollar revenue gap at
the state level in Fiscal Year 2004, and without at least the Governor's
House 1 budget to work from, it is very prudent at this time to
project the minimum of a 15% local aid reduction to Walpole next
year.
CONTINUED
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