GREENFIELD — Less than an hour before the City Council Ways and Means Committee held its final deliberations on next year’s budget last week, two councilors proposed cuts slashing the budget by 1 percent.
Mayor William Martin responded Monday to what he terms as the “suspect” timing of the last-minute proposed cuts, as well as the cuts themselves, which he believes are “an overly simplistic reaction to a complex budget problem.”
“The mayor must defend and protect municipal employees,” Martin said in a statement. “My tone may be harsh, but I feel that this micromanagement through the budget process is unwarranted.”
Councilors Isaac Mass and Brickett Allis proposed cuts totaling $489,311 to Martin’s budget of $48,810,304, an increase of 1.34 percent over this year’s $47,084,970 budget.
The Mass-Allis cuts include $101,000 that Martin’s budget erroneously included for school resource officers under the police department budget. The erroneous money is expected to be removed from the budget by the council this week as it sets the overall spending plan for the year that begins July 1.
Martin said that the timing of the proposed 1 percent cut violates the council’s own “five-day rule” and “left no time for the committee to discuss and gather information, left no time for the public to comment on these cuts, left no time for the department heads to provide the committee with rebuttals and left no time for true discourse on the impact of this proposal.”
Council is set for its “full deliberation” on Wednesday, and such a late proposal “circumvent(s) the traditional committee and public input process of the budget,” Martin said. City Clerk and Clerk to the Town Council Deborah Tuttle confirmed Monday that the proposed cuts will be discussed at the council meeting Wednesday, and that they were not discussed at the Ways and Means Committee meeting last week because they were proposed in an untimely manner.
Each of the councilors’ cuts regarding salaries and municipal employees Martin has taken issue with.
Mass and Allis’ proposed cuts, if accepted, would bring the budget down to $48,320,993, but include the $101,000 error. Under the two councilors’ plan, the Police Department would see the most money cut — $176,154, eliminating the two school resource officers, which Mass and Allis say did not have the School Committee’s support and were added to the budget without the School Committee’s approval.
Martin, however, stands by the addition of the officers.
“I stand fast and serious about protecting defenseless school environments. Primarily, due to our scattered site district but also for the many benefits of such an addition is for the schools,” Martin said.
Martin said the addition of the two officers is not merely a reaction to the “horrific” recent incidents around the country, but is also a way to engage in “community policing” and provide positive role models for students.
Mass and Allis would also cut the Department of Public Works director’s salary by $11,461, claiming that director Don Ouellette has expressed a desire to leave the position.
Ouellette initially said he would negotiate a new contract or step down by July 1 — and also added he would leave sooner if offered a better position somewhere else — but also said his “plan right now is to retire in October 2019.”
Other notable cuts include removing $40,000 for an unfilled economic development and marketing position — money Mass said could be used to fund another full-time firefighter position — as well as reductions in salaries for positions replacing soon-to-retire employees like Tuttle and Chief Assessor Audrey Murphy.
Martin said all of these cuts would hurt Greenfield.
“The city is already struggling to compete in the labor market for qualified and talented applicants,” Martin said.
According to Martin, a salary review found the city is paying below the 25th percentile for jobs like information technology positions.
“In the past year many of the departments … technology, health, DPW and building inspections (all of which had further suggested cuts under Mass and Allis’ plan) targeted for wage cuts experienced vacancies as people left for better-paying positions,” Martin added.
Martin also says the councilors’ hope of hiring another firefighter under their proposed cuts is unrealistic.
“The councilors inaccurately report that $40,000 is the cost of a firefighter,” Martin said, adding that costs for “wages, academy, training, equipment, insurance and miscellaneous benefits” must be taken into account.
“These cuts will result in a decrease in services to city residents, just as the small cuts each year have already decreased services,” Martin said.
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com.