Portsmouth Pro Liberty

Thursday night’s budget work session began the half-year-long process of deciding next year’s city budget.

The meeting involved the City Council, the School Board, the Fire Commission, and the Police Commission. The City Manager presented some projections, and the participants (the councilors, board members, and commissioners—the public were strictly audience) had a chance to ask questions. Then there was the expected grandstanding; any actual work will happen between “work sessions.”

What was particularly interesting was who was willing to talk openly about laying off City employees, who was willing to consider it euphemistically, and who was unwilling.

In order to avoid increasing taxes in another recessionary year, the City will likely need to reduce its budget by 4%, and Mayor Tom Ferrini asked all the departments to present a budget based on 96% of fiscal year 2010 as a discussion point. Police Chief Lou Ferland and Police Commission Chair Gerry Howe predictably suggested that a significant budget cut would mean cutting staff and therefore cutting services. Also predictably, Fire Chief Chris LeClaire and Fire Commission Chair Richard Gamester were more confrontational, though they did not actually say that Portsmouth would burn to the ground if the budgets were cut.

New Councilor Tony Coviello was one of the first to actually suggest layoffs. He did not get an endorsement from the Association of Portsmouth Taxpayers in the November election, and I wonder if that was a mistake. He seems a top-down planner, and no libertarian, but he may be a sharper fiscal watchdog than APT gave him credit for.

To my surprise, Councilor Chris Dwyer was also talking about layoffs. I wonder who will point out to her that the money she wasted on pointless studies and tax-funded arts programs could have kept a few more employees on staff.

Not to my surprise, Councilor Jerry Hejtmanek, who has a solid business background, did talk about layoffs as well, as did Councilor Eric Spear (though without actually using that word). Both made the point that spending has been out of control for years (though neither took credit for that), and that we can fix it now with some pain; fix it later with even more pain; or not fix it and have severe pain later still.

Councilor Ken Smith, who did get an endorsement from APT, seemed averse to even considering layoffs. He did make a number of suggestions for creative ways in which the City could cut costs, which all seemed at least worth considering, but it was rightly pointed out that these were nickels and dimes next to the immense personnel-related costs that the City bears.

Read about the meeting in the Portsmouth Herald and Foster’s Daily Democrat.

Keep an eye on our calendar and join us to keep alerted to the next stages of the budget process and to help with analysis.