Why Receivership Is Further Away Than You Think

Check out this story out of Lawrence.

Note that city is wrangling with a $2.3 million budget gap. Another story on the Channel 5 website notes the total city budget is $94 million, or about the same as Fitchburg, even with 30,000 more people in Lawrence. I guess that's both good and bad.

But there's the thing: There are still folks around who think Fitchburg should go into receivership. But receivership shouldn't really be a goal or a decision. It should be something forced on a community. And, Fitchburg isn't as bad off as some other communities, like Springfield and Lawrence (and this doesn't even account for the chronically horrific School Department in Lawrence).

It's quite possible Fitchburg will be going through some layoffs of its own in the first few months of this year. But it seems -- at least right now -- that a $2.3 million budget gap is pretty unlikely. And, isn't the hope that Fitchburg is now starting its rebound?

The whole receivership thing has been kicked around here a lot over the last year, but it just seems like a bad idea all around. And as Lawrence proves, Fitchburg has a long way to go before getting into receivership land.