By Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

Last week, I submitted my proposed FY2009 city budget to our Board of Aldermen.  The proposal can be seen on the city’s website, www.somervillema.gov, where you will also find my overview presentation and the budget highlights of each city department as they  are presented to the Board’s Finance Committee over the next two weeks.  I hope you’ll take a look – and that you will attend the Finance Committee’s public hearing on the budget on Monday, June 23 at 6:30 p.m. in the Aldermen’s Chambers. Thanks to the ResiStat program, we’ve already accepted a lot of resident input on our budget priorities – and that input is reflected in our proposal – but this hearing is another opportunity to make your voice heard. 

The bottom line for next year’s budget is that, even as other cities and towns across the Commonwealth make significant cuts or propose  Proposition 2_ override votes, Somerville won’t face these hard choices. To be sure, we still confront major challenges and continuing fiscal austerity – net state aid is up less than one percent, energy and health costs are soaring, and we have a long list of maintenance projects that have been deferred for too many years – but we have submitted a $165 million budget that keeps pace with these challenges (and with four percent inflation) but still allows us to add teachers, firefighters and extended weekend hours to our libraries.

In short, we’re still doing more with less, and we’re still maintaining our investments in the future of our city and its people.   

When I first took office in 2004, I told our residents and our city workers that we were in a perfect fiscal storm of reduced state and federal aid, a growing need for local investment and rising prices for energy, healthcare and construction – but I also outlined a plan to improve our fiscal performance and our responsiveness to resident concerns by introducing management efficiencies like SomerStat, and by making prudent investments that would allow us to unlock Somerville’s enormous potential for growth in commercial tax revenues. I believed then, as I believe now, that even with state aid flat or declining, and even with a sluggish regional economy, we simply cannot cut our way to success:  our future economic health and the our shared quality of life depend on prudent investment in the infrastructure, facilities and services that only municipal government  can provide.

That philosophy is already paying off for us here in Somerville, where we will avoid layoffs and forced budget cuts in FY2009, and where next year’s budget actually allows us to make substantial new investments in our schools, in public safety and in the basic infrastructure that improves the quality of our daily lives.

We can make these investments because we have worked hard to increase the efficiency of city government by continuously monitoring performance through the SomerStat system.  We have also kept our eye on the ball at Assembly Square and, with a lot of positive input from community and business groups, gotten that project back on track and moving forward. We have helped maintain and grow our economic potential by working with and through Governor Patrick, Congressman Capuano and our legislative delegation to advocate successfully for more and better transit access. We have earned the respect of the municipal bond community by implementing a strategy described by Moody’s Investors Service as a ‚Äúconservative budgeting approach, increasing property tax revenues, and strong financial management.‚Äù  Our bond ratings have never been so high – we’re now in the top tier for cities across the nation – and that helps keep the cost of borrowing down, freeing up funds that can be used for other purposes.

Our new budget is by no means in its final form, but if its key elements are approved, this proposal will enable us to make a host of improvements, big and small, including:  creation of  a new fire rescue company with eight new firefighters; restoration of the Engine 4 fire company to fulltime status; creation of the East Somerville and West Somerville Police Sub-Stations; creation of a new police K-9 unit; the repaving of over 40 additional streets; increasing veterans benefits; establishing weekend hours at our branch libraries; and the planting of hundreds of new trees across the city.

Not bad in a year when so many of our sister communities are laying off teachers and cutting back on services.

I wish we could add much more and, as the economy picks up, I think we will be able to do so in future years. With rising fuel costs, communities that are compact, diverse, have good transit systems, a focus on Smart Growth, mixed use development, low debt, high investment in education and that pay close attention to environmental issues are growing to be the most desirable places in the country in which to live, work and raise a family.