School custodian jobs outsourced By Tom Nash As Mayor Joseph Curtatone prepared to present the city's proposed FY11 budget on Tuesday, he stressed jobs would not be spared if services can be maintained in other ways. The $8.1 million budget gap faced by the city, due mostly to aid reduction from Beacon Hill, means another year of layoffs. Eighteen city positions and 49 school custodian positions have been cut. City officials said they would outsource.

"The budget protects all our priorities," Curtatone said. "But there is pain here."

In addition to aid cuts from the state government, Curtatone said rising health insurance costs are the "biggest budget buster" facing the city. A proposal to bring city employees into the state's Group Insurance Commission would affect next year's budget at the earliest.

Curtatone said he went through each department, looking for efficiencies.

"In every department we've asked ourselves, is this in line with the needs of the community?" he said. "Cutting 10 percent across the board, that's not leadership. We've got to make tough choices."

Just before rejecting a proposal from the school custodians' union to match the projected $1 million in savings per year the city would save with a contractor, Curtatone defended the outsourcing against criticism from the Board of Aldermen.

"My job is to make financial policy decisions, it's not the job of the aldermen," Curtatone said. "This is not a policy shift – the city's been doing this for 20 years."

The Board of Aldermen approved a proposal to outsource the city's trash collection in 1991, around the time Curtatone first joined the board.

Alderman-at-Large Bill White joined several other board members at last Thursday's meeting in asking that the city review the decision more carefully. The city took control of the janitorial services from the school department in 2004.

"When folks who have made a commitment to the city lose their jobs, especially at a mass like this, it creates a tremendous impact on their families," White said. "If you lose your job, in this in environment, it's very unlikely that you're going to find one."

A decision on which contractor the city would chose was due by 5 p.m. Tuesday. The city had narrowed the choices to two, A.M.-P.M. and Unico, both SEIU shops.

A formal presentation of the city's FY11 budget was scheduled for Tuesday night. The proposed budget is available on the City of Somerville website.