Oh Boy, Part II

It's been quite a week for budget news.

If you've missed it, let's recap:

• Mayor Dan Mylott doesn't turn in a line-item budget by his self-imposed May 15 deadline. Council erupts.
• Mylott says city is facing "unprecedented financial crisis."
• Letter from DOR says city probably looking at $1 million deficit in '07.
• Mylott assistant Robert Pontbriand says the city will need to slash $3.7 million for '08. Forget 20 layoffs, probably 30 or 40, and that doesn't include the schools.

So, the news isn't good.

For Mylott, this is very, very bad news. He has at least three qualified candidates looking for his job this fall. Mylott might be a good community politician, he might be a decent steady-as-she-goes manager, but at this point it's OK to wonder if he can manage this situation. He's going to have to account for this situation -- early and often -- when he's on the campaign trail. And his challengers are going to bring it up to the point of annoyance, and they should.

If nothing else, it's mystifying Mylott missed the May 15 budget. He said in his letter to councilors that things are worse than he thought, and that he's following recommendations from a DOR letter from May 11.

But it was clear before May 11 where the city's revenues stood. You can get a pretty good ballpark number on property taxes and other information. State aid was settled over a month ago. Maybe he was waiting on a miracle or slightly smaller piece of good news that didn't come in. Whatever the case, the delay not only pushes an important budget back, but it gives the council the softest of softballs to crush politically.

The council must be kicking itself, or at least it should be. The last two years it spent weeks hollering about how it didn't like the mayor's budget, and how it put the city at financial risk, and both times it stood down partially or fully. Too late now, but it should be a lesson learned.

Here's the larger issue now: The budget process with be a 3.5 week sprint, but the Council should start having its input now. The council, as it famously remarks constantly, can only cut the budget. Considering the situation, there won't be much to cut, and seemingly won't give the council much input. However, it should talk to Mylott now about its priorities, what it wants to see preserved and left exposed. It can't wait until June 5 to start the process.

It's going to be a long and busy 6 weeks, but it's an important busy 6 weeks. Together, we can, as Deval Patrick said one or two time. The mayor and council are going to have to do it together.