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Friday, March 17, 2017

LORI DOES MAKE YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT WE CAN AFFORD

Lori D'Amico to Lynn School Watch
21 mins ·
Here is just a little financial history for the city of Lynn going back only about 6 months (going back any further would be even more frightening). I will let people make up their own minds on whether they believe Lynn (taxpayers) can afford another $91 million in debt by building two new schools.
August 2016: "The city is facing a $4.2 million shortfall, according to the city’s chief financial officer. The news comes on the heels of the recent settlement of the police contract that calls for a more than $3 million wage hike over four years. The retroactive agreement provides a 1 percent boost for 2014, a 2 percent increase for 2015, 2016 and 2017 and a 1 percent raise for 2018. Coppinger said the city is already down 13 officers because of a hiring freeze."
“Over the last four years, my budget has been cut by $2 million,” Coppinger told The Item.
http://www.itemlive.com/…/budget-cuts-leave-lynn-police-fe…/
November 2016: "The state Department of Education is threatening to withhold $11 million in school funds this month until City Hall ponies up its school spending money."
“We consider this very serious,” John J. Sullivan, associate commissioner, told The Item. “I would not hold out Chapter 70 payment if I didn’t think so, this is not common at all.”
"In a letter to Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy on Monday, Sullivan said a review of the city’s fiscal year end financial report discovered that Lynn was in violation of state law."
http://www.itemlive.com/…/dept-of-ed-threatens-to-withhold…/
November 2016: Council Discusses Taxes: Budget Shortfall May Lead to Lay-Offs,Override
"The Lynn City Council met for close to two hours Tuesday night with Lynn Chief Financial Officer Peter Caron, in an effort to get a handle on the depth and breadth of the city’s financial challenges, as the city prepares to set the 2017 tax rate and deal with a budget shortfall of more than $8 million."
"Without finding some way to raise new revenues, the city will be forced to consider laying off employees in the police, fire and public works departments."
http://www.lynnjournal.com/…/council-discusses-taxesbudget…/
February 2017: "There are fewer police officers on the street as the department deals with a $567,000 budget shortfall.
As a result, as much as 15 percent of the force may not be on the streets during a shift."
"Last summer, as the city’s chief financial officer revealed City Hall faced a $4.2 million deficit, Coppinger told the city council that the department disbanded several units, including the Warrant Task Force that consisted of a sergeant and three patrolmen, the Traffic Safety Unit, which included two enforcement officers, four members of the Community Liaison Team, a traffic investigator and a special investigations detective. None of the dozen officers were laid off, rather they were reassigned to patrol. But he said the city will be deprived of valuable services that the public depends on."
http://www.itemlive.com/…/police-spending-stretched-in-lynn/
February 2017: Lynn Firefighters Settle on Contract
"The decision is likely to put more stress on an already tight city budget. Peter Caron, the city’s chief financial officer, said it’s unclear how these raises will be funded."
"The $2.5 million deal was settled late Wednesday by the Joint Labor-Management Committee, a quasi-public agency that negotiates collective bargaining disputes between municipalities and public employees. Under the terms of the agreement, the firefighters will receive a retroactive 2 percent raise for each of fiscal years 2015 and 2016, a 2.5 percent hike for 2017, another 2 percent for 2018 and on June 30, 2018 they will collect another 1 percent."
http://www.itemlive.com/…/lynn-firefighters-settle-on-cont…/

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