BOA prepares for state aid cuts

On March 17, 2010, in Latest News, by The News Staff

By Tom Nash

Ward
2 Alderman and Finance Committee Chair Maryann Heuston and Ward 6
Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz submitted a resolution asking Mayor Joe
Curtatone's office for a budget strategy at the board's March 11
meeting.

"(The) bottom line is, we probably will take a hit,"
Heuston said of the state aid allotted to local communities each year.
"We have to be prepared. There are no more rabbits to pull out of the
hat."

Last year, aldermen approved a budget that was $5 million
less than in Fiscal Year 2009, after confronting a $12 million
shortfall.

"It's pretty dire out there," Gewirtz said of the
budget discussion in the State House. "It seems to me (that) it's worse
this year than it was last year. We are staring down some difficult
times."

In a statement released March 12, both House and Senate
Ways and Means chairmen said cuts to local aid would not exceed 4
percent.