The Telegram Story

We still don't have a link to today's Telegram story, but we do have an electronic copy of it. Here it is.

Override proposal sparks debate
Fitchburg blog joins the fray
By Matthew Bruun
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
FITCHBURG— The midyear cuts to the city budget
that eliminated
positions in the police and school departments has sparked wide
discussion
of a Proposition 2-1/2 override.

Police Chief Edward F. Cronin and Fitchburg Police Union President Todd M.
Deacon have voiced support for the measure, arguing the department needs funds
to continue the proactive approach they say will translate into a better quality
of life in the city.

Members of the School Committee and teachers union leaders have also said
something must be
done to preserve programs and maintain facilities,
suggesting an override of the tax-limiting law may be such a solution.

Mayor Dan H. Mylott, who proposed the unbalanced budget that won City
Council approval earlier this year, has said the state must fulfill its funding
obligations to cities and towns before any talk of an override takes place.
Several councilors have echoed his stance.

Add Jason Lefferts’ voice to the list of override opponents.

Mr. Lefferts, whose family moved to Fitchburg just over two years ago,
started a Web log, or blog, last week in opposition to an override. The site is
available at savefitchburg.blogspot.com.

Mr. Lefferts said the override is not a viable solution to the city’s
budget woes, which he says began when city leaders approved an unbalanced budget
in hopes of additional state aid.

“It’s just unheard of,” Mr. Lefferts said Friday. “It’s not good policy. I
don’t want this to get even close to a ballot. I want to nip this in the
bud.”

The blog recounts the discussion to date on the hypothetical override,
which would have to be
approved by voters at the ballot to take
effect.

“Mayor Dan Mylott and the City Council took the easy way out in the summer,
hoped for an easy solution, and some officials are trying to find the
second-easiest solution,” Mr. Lefferts
wrote in a recent posting.
“Throughout this budget situation, they haven’t made the tough choices, and
we’re not going to bail them out.”

Mr. Lefferts said local taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for the city’s
gamble on state finances.

“This is a bill we don’t want,” he wrote. “Residents in Fitchburg already
take on an unfair portion of the tax burden. Yes, we want a safe city, good
schools for our kids, and pothole-free roads. But we also need a responsible and
effective government.

Mr. Mylott stood by his decision on Friday. He said the city was faced with
making $3 million in cuts in the spring. By waiting, he said, the city was able
to reassess its situation and got the reductions down to $1 million.

“I think we made the right decision,” he said Friday. “You have to look at
the whole picture.”The cuts announced in November still proved unpopular in some
corners.

Six vacant positions went unfilled in the Police Department, which Chief
Cronin has said was an unacceptable loss.

“We have to find the funding, whether it’s through an override or a tax,”
Chief Cronin said earlier this month.

Four positions in the School Department also went unfilled, leaving
administrators to reassign personnel. A music teacher will be moved out of
Crocker Elementary School in January, raising concerns among some parents.

A kindergarten physical education teacher is being moved to another
assignment, and an English language teaching position at Memorial Middle School
will go unfilled, Superintendent Andre Ravenelle said Friday.

Also in January, only three school buildings will be available for public
use after 5:30 p.m., Mr. Ravenelle said So far, he said, space has been found
for programs at Reingold Elementary
School, Memorial Middle School and
Fitchburg High School, the only buildings that will remain open for evening use
by the public.

Mr. Ravenelle said he is forbidden from taking a stance on any proposed
override, but said the School Committee has asked him to develop reports on the
district’s curriculum and materials needs, an assessment of its technology needs
and a review of its capital facilities. Those reports are to include projected
costs to meet those needs, Mr. Ravenelle said.

Mr. Ravenelle said he plans to present those reports to the School
Committee in January.