07/05/08

Lawrence taxpayers - hold up on that champagne celebration

Robert O'Koniewski

On June 18th the Lawrence City Council approved the city’s $240.5 million fiscal year 2009 budget, a full twelve days ahead of the July 1st start of the budget year, and a full two and one-half months ahead of what we saw last year.  By all accounts, the last time this happened was six years ago. 

The impetus for this sudden rush to actually meet the July 1st deadline imposed by state law: harsh words from the state Department of Revenue last November and this February, submitted to the city in sharp rebuke of the various fiscal shenanigans and political gamesmanship our elected and appointed municipal officials have engaged in over the last several years. 

While elected officials were more interested in embarrassing each other, hurling insults, and throwing tantrums, our financial situation sank deeper and deeper into an abyss of red ink, inappropriate expenditures, and incompetent administration. The end result as we entered the FY 2009 budget talks: a city in such a fiscal mess that there had been quiet talk of the “R” word in the halls of 200 Common Street and the State House: Receivership.

But while the mayor, city councilors, and municipal employees after the vote could be seen high-fiving and hugging and engaging in the usual self-congratulatory actions well-known amongst politicians, what was lost in the clearly uncomfortable euphoria was the status of our city’s taxpayers and the services (or lack thereof) we expect, but sometimes do not receive, for the dollars we send to city hall every year. 

The mayor and council’s rush to meet a July 1st deadline was admirable in that it demonstrated that if they put their minds to it they could actually cooperate long enough to accomplish something. But throughout the 50 or so hours of public budget meetings one got the sense that we were moving quickly to meet a deadline simply to meet a deadline.  It is as if you hired a painter on Monday and told him you wanted your house done by Wednesday.  Did you just want the house painted in a slap-dash manner just to get it done with no care as to how the final product looked, or did you really expect it to look like a professionally done job?

Councilors and the Sullivan administration did a fine job dissecting the numbers to the penny, but sometimes what is needed is a “big picture” view of where we are heading as a city. For example, instead of trying to gut the police department’s personnel, as was attempted, perhaps the council should hold the police chief’s feet to the fire to fully explain how personnel are used throughout the city on all shifts to provide the necessary coverage that each neighborhood deserves regardless of location or political clout of its neighborhood association. An explanation of resource utilization is well within the council’s purview.

Now that the budget is passed and ready to be implemented on July 1, perhaps the mayor and the city council can focus on delivering the services we deserve as taxpayers and residents.  As our taxes rise we seem to be receiving less and less. The quality of life issues that are fundamental to our community seem to deteriorate exponentially as time moves forward. Our streets, sidewalks, parks, and overall cleanliness of our city need tremendous attention.

Now would be the time to address why our city receives a sewer assessment from the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District that is, in fact, 50% higher than what we send into the system. Why should poor ol’ Lawrence continue to subsidize the sewer charges for Andover and North Andover, two of the richest communities in the state?

Now would be the time to restructure the manner in which services are delivered and personnel are utilized within city hall. Offices are closed at particular times of the day and even when the lone administrator in an office goes on vacation. This is unacceptable. Offices should be manned at every moment of the work day. The public that is footing the bill should not be inconvenienced because supervisors lack basic management skills and common sense.

Now would be the time to commence a full review of all potential non-tax revenue sources for our city. The mayor brags about the rehab of Veterans Stadium, and he deserves the credit for getting the job done when no one else would. But it is not enough to just rebuild a crumbling edifice dedicated to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our Nation. Perhaps it is time to get a private vendor under contract to better promote the venue and grab needed sponsorship dollars.

Now would be the time to commence the development of the next capital improvement program for the city. Our needs are extreme and run to all corners of our community. It is great that Mount Vernon got a new multi-million dollar park system. But there are neighborhoods that lack fundamental park services and the result is idle youths with no sport or recreational outlets. 

Now would be the time to develop a state-of-art web site. Ours is one of the worst there is. While communities around us like Methuen, Andover, and North Andover receive awards and recognition for their municipal web sites, ours continues to be lacking. The web site is the Internet “gateway” for virtual visitors to our community. It does not require much money to modernize our site, and it would pay for itself immediately.
It’s great our budget is on time, for a change. Now the devil is in the details, as our elected officials begin to administer the document they put together. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Will the taxpayers begin to see enhanced services and tax relief as efficiencies are implemented, or will we be handed the status quo or worse, something that is simply unacceptable?

Will the leadership be there to take us in a direction of competence and accomplishment, or will we see our services continue to devolve into a higher level of deterioration? 

These will be the real challenges of this “on-time” budget. And it is on each of us to be part of the overall solution.

Robert O’Koniewski is a member of the Lawrence Zoning Board and can be reached at bobokesq@hotmail.com

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