Paolella Pushes for Fiscal Fix
By Brooke B. Weberling

         A candidate for Ward 3 Alderman demanded truth and fiscal accountability at the The Somerville News contributors meeting Aug. 5.

         “If you want to know the truth, follow the money,” said Lawrence A. Paolella. “I’m going to do that, it’s part of my campaign. I want the people of Somerville to pay attention to where our money is going.”

          Paolella began his discourse waving two documents in the air. The first: Somerville’s 455-page annual report from 1904. The second: a glossy 12-page piece from Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone which Paolella described as a PR piece disguised as an annual report.

        He went on to explain that according to the report, in 1904, the city’s 69,000 residents relied on a municipal budget of $1.4 million. Today, the city is home to approximately 79,000 people, yet the proposed budget has soared to $155 million. 

       “It costs 100 times more today to sustain someone living in Somerville than it did 100 years ago,” said Paolella.

       A June 6 letter from Paolella to City Clerk John J. Long requested that the complete proposed 2006 municipal budget be posted to the city website and made readily available to residents.

     With this request, Paolella intended to encourage greater public understanding and participation in the budget process, he said.

      Paolella said one-third of the current budget comes from the state and the city is barely scraping by to come up with the other two-thirds.

      “We’re selling off real estate to make ends meet, to make the city work. We can’t keep doing that or we will run out of things to sell,” he said.

      “We can’t go on depending on the state to provide one-third of the budget or every time the state has a hiccup, Somerville will catch pneumonia,” he said.

        Some of Paolella’s examples of the city’s misuse of funds are the lagging Lowell Street Bridge project, and the lack of parks and open recreational space.

       But a bigger issue for him right now is the Assembly Square development. He said the city spent $400,000 on lawyers, financial analysts and developers to convince the board of aldermen of the need for the development.

       After six years, Paolella said the development is projected to produce for the city a sum that would be less than one-half of the statutory increase in health care costs for city employees.

     “Somerville is broke,” said Paolella. “Unless we change the structure in some sustainable way, we’re going to remain broke.”

      Although he’s well aware of its shortcomings, Paolella has lived in the city for more than thirteen years.

    “Somerville is an incredibly wonderful place to live,” said Paolella with a smile. “You can invite the Mayor to lunch and then call him names, and he’s got nowhere to hide.”