Whether the pain is moderate or severe depends on what
happens at the state level for the time being. Regardless of whether
the Governor "generously" spared Chapter 70 money (school aid), the
reality is that in a city like Somerville, where the single largest
section of the total municipal budget goes directly to the school
department, the pain of financial cutbacks needs to be shared across
the board in an equitable fashion. That's only right.

This
economic downturn is affecting so many different areas all at once, to
the point where it's next to impossible to determine if any one
financial segment of public or private industry will be spared. If that
sounds gloomy and doomy, that's because it is meant to be exactly that.

The
property owners and business owners in the city are already at the
breaking point, carrying the brunt of the responsibility for city tax
revenue. And when you are waved at from Beacon Hill and given the
"you're on your own" wink, then this Mayor is going to need certain
tools at his disposal to avoid cutting back on public safety and
educational services.

Nobody wants to see police, firefighters
or school teachers laid off. We as a community do so much with very
little as it is, and it will take a lot of creativity to get through
this downturn locally.

The tools that are designed to spread out
the pain so that it doesn't hurt one particular group more than others
will certainly be unpopular for the Mayor and the rest of the elected
officials. It will take raising fees and costs for services, it will
take a meals tax add-on, it will probably take more parking tickets –
but in the end, it is essentially what is needed to ensure an equitable
distribution of fiscal restraint.

It isn't even as simple as
saying "fiscal restraint" actually. That would imply that there is
money to spend, and based on the numbers being talked about, the money
just isn't there. So yes, along with hikes in fees and fines, there
will be cutbacks on hiring personnel, a slow down in operational
spending for the different city departments (including police, fire and
schools) and some serious measures taken to reduce ongoing costs such
as retirement, medical, etc.

Will Davis Square look like the
wasteland it was in the middle to late 70's again? Probably not. We are
hurting here, but it's much worse elsewhere. Someone who just lost
their job or their house won't agree with that statement, but overall,
as a community, it is true – we don't have dozens of homes being
foreclosed on every week, we don't have entire city blocks of empty
storefronts, we don't have hundreds of people begging for food and
money at the T station.