Mayoral hopefuls sound off on spending

By RICK COLLINS
The Patriot Ledger

One of the first tasks Braintree’s first mayor will have to tackle after taking office in January will be writing the town’s budget.

It stands at $83.2 million - or just over $100 million if you include the town’s enterprise funds, which pay to operate the water and sewer department and municipal golf course.

But the town has struggled in recent years to make ends meet. The school department operates with less staff than it did prior to layoffs kin 2003. The town’s bond rating is in danger of taking a hit unless the town starts to pump up its savings accounts. And town leaders have been fiscally unable - or at least politically unwilling - to eliminate the unpopular trash-collection fee.

On top of all that, every municipal union contract will be up for renegotiation come July.

Here are some of the thoughts of the four mayoral candidates on the town’s fiscal picture:

Brian Muello

Muello says the town’s fiscal situation is the result of a lack of leadership.

“We need direction, and we need things to straighten out,” said Muello, a petty officer in the Navy Reserve and substitute teacher in Boston. “Things aren’t getting done.”

Muello said he won’t be able to have a full grasp on the town’s financial problems until he’s elected. But he said he doesn’t understand why the streets around his Dorchester school have new sidewalks, while his neighborhood streets in Braintree do not.

“It’s been 40 years for some streets in Braintree,” he said. “I want to know where the money is going.”

Meullo said rather than raise taxes on residents, he’d look elsewhere for money. He suggested renegotiating the town’s agreement with SEMASS, which operates the Ivory Street transfer station, or convincing South Shore Plaza to give more money for police details.

He also wants to avoid layoffs, but can’t guarantee that they won’t happen. “Maybe we need to redirect some of the money from some areas to other areas,” he said.

Joseph Powers

Powers, the only sitting town official in the race, said Braintree’s finances are “tight,” the result of a lack of strong checks and balances within the current government.

“The discipline that I envision in the future, I don’t see that now,” said Powers, a selectman. “We’re certainly not awash in money, but we should be doing things much better.”

For example, he said, the town should never have instituted a trash fee without having an adequate billing system in place, or enough trained personnel to run it.

He said union contract negotiations will only solve part of the town’s fiscal problems.

“It’s not simply about pay increase, or no pay increases,” he said. “There’s a bigger picture.”

Among those bigger issues: whether the town should stagger the contracts so they don’t all come up for renewal at once.

Powers said he won’t solve Braintree’s fiscal problems by asking for a Proposition 2 1 2 override. He said the town first has to “earn the trust of the voters,” and that there are “miles to go” before that happens.

“We need to demonstrate to the (taxpayers) in town that we have the discipline and are working efficiently, and through it all, we still have a demand for additional revenue,” he said.

Joseph Sullivan

Sullivan, who ran the state’s multibillion-dollar Lottery system for three years, said the town’s budget needs “reworking and refinement.”

He said his first action will be to commission an outside auditing firm to scour each line item, enterprise account, and fee.

“The cornerstone of my campaign has been - and it has resonated well with the people I have met with - the whole issue of accountability,” said Sullivan, a former state representative and selectman.

“My sense is that a thorough forensic review will generate areas of savings and areas of duplication that may exist in the budget.”

He said the audit will also give him an honest assessment of the town’s fiscal situation that he can present to the town’s unions.

“Collective bargaining is a process where both sides need to be open and fair and honest and direct in their deliberations,” Sullivan said.

“But I think as well there needs to be recognition and a realistic sense of where the town is financially and what the affordability of these contracts can be.”

Paul Walsh

Paul Walsh is succinct in summing up his view of the town’s fiscal picture: “It’s a disaster.

“We don’t have enough revenue coming in to meet all of our obligations with the unions, and I don’t think what anyone has been talking about is the tax shift that’s got to take place in 2009,” he said.

Walsh is referring to the town’s split tax rate. In 2003, the town was allowed to temporarily shift more of the tax burden onto commercial properties, rather than residential. However, the town is now required by state law to shift that burden back onto homeowners.

“Whomever the mayor is is facing a financial nightmare,” Walsh said. “Maybe the town needs cuts in personnel, maybe cuts in budgets. I won’t be able to predict (what needs to be done) until I get into office and see how bad it is.”

Despite the predicted tough times, Walsh says he won’t ask residents for an override.

He says that $100 million “should be enough to run a town of this size efficiently. I will never ask for one (an override) barring a natural disaster.”

Although he says he isn’t a “my way or the highway” type of guy, Walsh feels the contract negotiations will play a large role in the town’s fiscal future.

“As with our own household budgets, if you don’t have any money, you can’t go on vacation,” he said. “Either the unions will have to work with us responsibly or we’re going to have to make some tough cuts.”

Rick Collins may be reached at rcollins@ledger.com.