No Stabilization Funding?

That appears to be the case, based on Mayor Dan Mylott's press conference this afternoon (and Donna beat us to the punch earlier in a comment in this morning's post). You can get the details at the Fitchburg Pride website (and as of this writing, nowhere else).

It answers one of the questions I asked this morning, and probably sets up one of the battlegrounds between the mayor and the council come budget time.

It will be interesting to see how the council pursues this. If it's serious about creating a stabilization fund, it's going to have to decide what amount they want that to be, and the find cuts in the budget to equal that amount. Do they have the, well, stones to cut deeper into a budget already whacked by $3 million? Interesting. Very interesting.

Also, councilors chronically complain they can only cut the budget and can't add, and that Mylott doesn't listen to them. Here's what they have to do: Make it very clear what they're cutting, why, and how much. Then tell Mylott to put it in a stabilization fund. If he doesn't, they need to stay united and shoot down every transfer and spending request Mylott makes until he agrees to the move. Can a majority of the council stand strong on that item? History (say hello, sewer rates), points to "maybe" at best. It will be up to the council to frame every money issue on their stabilization stand until it gets its way. Easy? Hell, no. Doable? Hell, yes. We'll see what happens.