Cops and Money

Check out this very, very, very interesting piece in the Saturday Telegram on Police Chief Edward Cronin's refusal to cut $350,000 out of his budget. It leads to a number of questions about relationships, Cronin's loyalties, and the state of the city.

First, the background: Mayor Dan Mylott wants Cronin to cut the $350K to partly fill in the city's $400,000 budget deficit and partly to help pay for a new 2.5 percent increase in pay for police officers. Cronin is taking a particularly tough stand, saying to the Telegram, "I was never consulted. It’s very disturbing. I will not cut anything out of my budget."

So, what the heck does all this mean?

First, it's an interesting break between Mylott and Cronin, who up to this point seemed buddy-buddy on most issues.

Second, it was generally assumed the union raises were baked into the budget. Did the union get more than anticipated? If so, why did the city go beyond what it had budgeted? If it wasn't baked into the budget, why wasn't it? Everyone knew that contract was due.

Third, there are times in this story where Cronin seems to be defending the department and officers above everything else. That's all well and good, but remember, he works for us. And he is paid and his department is funded by us. He says he wants the public to have a say, but he should be careful what he wishes for.

So, let's go back to these three points in reverse order, just to confuse you:

Cronin and his point of view: For better or worse, Cronin needs to put the overall city health first. We're still skeptical that cop cars wear out after two or three years. Can someone with some knowledge explain this (remember, a big cut out of this is the $175G for new cars). Cronin knows his budget better than anyone else. He didn't know the union contract would break the bank?

Mylott and the budget: This is another example of someone being furious with the mayor's budget. So now the schools, cops and City Council all have immense dislike for Mylott's budget. The cops not only want raises, they want cars and new guns. In the meantime, Mylott tried to short the city school expenditure $100,000 in his original budget. A week of posts could ramble through the problems with city funding right now, but the short version is that the wolves are at the door, and they're all hungry. Does Mylott have the capacity to pull Fitchburg out of this fiscal nosedive?

The Cronin-Mylott break: This is, if nothing else, a slap at Mylott. This is his biggest department head going off the reservation, with some force. He can't be happy about this. What does this mean for the relationship between to two? Is it damaged? Just bumped? Beyond repair? Mylott needs to start putting together an '08 budget sooner rather than later. Do he and Cronin go at it again?

Fundamentally, this is about the city and its financial situation. It's about an entity that doesn't have enough money to do what it needs to do, forget about what it wants. The city is strapped, plain and simple, and it's clear where help can come from. The question is, Is the current leadership the group to fix this problem?