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June 04. 2012 11:37PM
Manchester mayor vetoes 2 budget votes
MANCHESTER — Dueling budgets and a mayoral veto left aldermen at a budget impasse Monday night and a step closer to defaulting to Mayor Ted Gatsas' proposed budget.
Aldermen Joyce Craig and Jim Roy both presented their own budgets; both failed to earn the votes needed to replace the proposed Gatsas budget. While Craig crafted a budget that would give $1.8 million more to the Manchester School District in hopes of saving about 40 teachers, Roy's budget set more aside in the city's contingency fund for upcoming projects. Roy's budget also did not give more to schools than the $150 million proposed in the Gatsas budget.
“These budgets are both so good and so close it seems like there are only one or two issues and we are a house divided,” said Alderman Barbara Shaw. “I wish there was some way to resolve this in a short period of time, but don't know how to do it. I don't want to see all this hard work go away and us end up being divided.”
Later in the meeting, Alderman Ron Ludwig pointed out that the difference between the Roy and Craig budgets on the average home's taxes is $1. As Ludwig was trying to make this point, he was interrupted by Alderman Joe Kelly Levasseur.
That drew criticism from the Ward 2 alderman, who had not yet had a chance to speak to the board that night. Ludwig accused Levasseur of posturing for the cameras.
“We're not on Channel 23,” said Ludwig, referring to Levasseur's show on the city's public access station.
Levasseur yelled he had a “point of order” or a procedural point to raise, and that his statement should have taken precedent. The two began yelling over each other and the argument became so heated, Gatsas called a recess.
After the recess, Levasseur apologized for the outburst.
Roy's budget set aside funds for those departments that made union concessions, such as Highway and Welfare, so that job reductions proposed in the mayor's budget could be saved. Roy then shifted expected savings and surplus funds to prepay city pension costs and add to the contingency fund, money that could be used for the Derryfield engineering work and other unknown but expected costs, such as picking up the bill for the former county domestic violence prosecutor being moved under city control, or for the estimated $50,000 needed to maintain the current police station once the department moves to the new municipal complex.
Roy also proposed spending $240,000 from contingency on sidewalk repair, about $20,000 to go to each ward.
Roy's budget failed in a 10-3 vote. Aldermen Roy, Bill Shea, and Russ Ouellette voted in favor of Roy's budget. If passed, it would have increased taxes by the same amount proposed by Gatsas in March, 1.41 percent.
Craig's budget would have also restored funds to city departments where unions made concessions. And it would have shifted $1.8 million in increased revenues, savings and surplus from the city side to the school district's budget. This included axing allocations to the Derryfield engineering study and recycling toters, decreasing the severance pay line and increasing the event parking fee by $1.
Under the Craig budget, the tax rate would have increased by 1.46 percent.
During recent budget discussions, aldermen had promised to give more funds to schools if staff came forward with concessions. As of Monday, no school union had done so. Although that is disappointing, Craig said, it doesn't mean the aldermen should just stand by as the school budget is slashed.
“I wish concessions were made. It would have been a lot easier to build this budget, but we don't have control over it,” said Craig. “We can only work with the facts in front of us, which are that the schools are in trouble and they need our help. (The budget) doesn't save the day but it helps and I think it's the responsibility of the city to do what it can.”
Craig's budget passed in a 8-6 vote with Aldermen Roy, Shea, Ouellette, Ed Osborne, Phil Greazzo and Levasseur voting against. Gatsas vetoed both Craig's school and city proposals. An attempt to override resulted in the same vote, failing to reach the 10 votes required.
Gatsas said he could not support a budget that used “one-time funds,” such as the expected surplus from the current year's budget, to pay for teacher salaries and benefits.
Alderman Garth Corriveau said one-time funds have been used before to find schools.
“Would I rather spend one-time money on one-time items like toters ... or allocating money to the schools? I'm going to pick the schools,” said Corriveau.
Under charter rules, the aldermen have to vote on an alternative budget by the second Tuesday in June. Because they voted on a budget on Monday and Gatsas vetoed it, the aldermen now have until the end of the month to come up with a compromise. If a budget fails to pass and survive a Gatsas veto before June 30, the mayor's budget will automatically go into effect.
The aldermen are set to meet again tonight for a regular meeting. While there are still a few small budget items left for a vote, it is uncertain whether the school or city general fund budgets will be brought forward for more discussion.
What's next: The board now has until June 30 to come up with a compromise alternative to Mayor Ted Gatsas' city general fund budget and school budget.
Email: bhall@unionleader.com
Aldermen Joyce Craig and Jim Roy both presented their own budgets; both failed to earn the votes needed to replace the proposed Gatsas budget. While Craig crafted a budget that would give $1.8 million more to the Manchester School District in hopes of saving about 40 teachers, Roy's budget set more aside in the city's contingency fund for upcoming projects. Roy's budget also did not give more to schools than the $150 million proposed in the Gatsas budget.
“These budgets are both so good and so close it seems like there are only one or two issues and we are a house divided,” said Alderman Barbara Shaw. “I wish there was some way to resolve this in a short period of time, but don't know how to do it. I don't want to see all this hard work go away and us end up being divided.”
Later in the meeting, Alderman Ron Ludwig pointed out that the difference between the Roy and Craig budgets on the average home's taxes is $1. As Ludwig was trying to make this point, he was interrupted by Alderman Joe Kelly Levasseur.
That drew criticism from the Ward 2 alderman, who had not yet had a chance to speak to the board that night. Ludwig accused Levasseur of posturing for the cameras.
“We're not on Channel 23,” said Ludwig, referring to Levasseur's show on the city's public access station.
Levasseur yelled he had a “point of order” or a procedural point to raise, and that his statement should have taken precedent. The two began yelling over each other and the argument became so heated, Gatsas called a recess.
After the recess, Levasseur apologized for the outburst.
The dueling budgets
Roy's budget set aside funds for those departments that made union concessions, such as Highway and Welfare, so that job reductions proposed in the mayor's budget could be saved. Roy then shifted expected savings and surplus funds to prepay city pension costs and add to the contingency fund, money that could be used for the Derryfield engineering work and other unknown but expected costs, such as picking up the bill for the former county domestic violence prosecutor being moved under city control, or for the estimated $50,000 needed to maintain the current police station once the department moves to the new municipal complex.
Roy also proposed spending $240,000 from contingency on sidewalk repair, about $20,000 to go to each ward.
Roy's budget failed in a 10-3 vote. Aldermen Roy, Bill Shea, and Russ Ouellette voted in favor of Roy's budget. If passed, it would have increased taxes by the same amount proposed by Gatsas in March, 1.41 percent.
Vetoes follow votes
Craig's budget would have also restored funds to city departments where unions made concessions. And it would have shifted $1.8 million in increased revenues, savings and surplus from the city side to the school district's budget. This included axing allocations to the Derryfield engineering study and recycling toters, decreasing the severance pay line and increasing the event parking fee by $1.
Under the Craig budget, the tax rate would have increased by 1.46 percent.
During recent budget discussions, aldermen had promised to give more funds to schools if staff came forward with concessions. As of Monday, no school union had done so. Although that is disappointing, Craig said, it doesn't mean the aldermen should just stand by as the school budget is slashed.
“I wish concessions were made. It would have been a lot easier to build this budget, but we don't have control over it,” said Craig. “We can only work with the facts in front of us, which are that the schools are in trouble and they need our help. (The budget) doesn't save the day but it helps and I think it's the responsibility of the city to do what it can.”
Craig's budget passed in a 8-6 vote with Aldermen Roy, Shea, Ouellette, Ed Osborne, Phil Greazzo and Levasseur voting against. Gatsas vetoed both Craig's school and city proposals. An attempt to override resulted in the same vote, failing to reach the 10 votes required.
One-time funds
Gatsas said he could not support a budget that used “one-time funds,” such as the expected surplus from the current year's budget, to pay for teacher salaries and benefits.
Alderman Garth Corriveau said one-time funds have been used before to find schools.
“Would I rather spend one-time money on one-time items like toters ... or allocating money to the schools? I'm going to pick the schools,” said Corriveau.
Under charter rules, the aldermen have to vote on an alternative budget by the second Tuesday in June. Because they voted on a budget on Monday and Gatsas vetoed it, the aldermen now have until the end of the month to come up with a compromise. If a budget fails to pass and survive a Gatsas veto before June 30, the mayor's budget will automatically go into effect.
The aldermen are set to meet again tonight for a regular meeting. While there are still a few small budget items left for a vote, it is uncertain whether the school or city general fund budgets will be brought forward for more discussion.
What's next: The board now has until June 30 to come up with a compromise alternative to Mayor Ted Gatsas' city general fund budget and school budget.
Email: bhall@unionleader.com