HAVERHILL — The $144.5 million budget passed by the City Council last night "will not take another dime" from residents, Mayor James Fiorentini said.
The mayor said he does not expect the fiscal plan will raise real estate taxes and, at his request, the council tabled a proposal to raise fees.
A more favorable injection of state aid, a lower-than-expected liability insurance premium, and stimulus money helped lower the amount from $146.3 million. The budget passed last night is about 1 percent less than the $145.9 million total for the fiscal year that ended yesterday.
The final vote on the budget for the new fiscal year, which began today, was 7-2. Council President Michael Hart and councilors Robert Scatamacchia, William Macek, Mary Ellen Daly O'Brien, David Hall, Michael McGonagle and Kenneth Quimby supported the budget proposed by Fiorentini, while William Ryan and James Donahue were opposed.
"I can't in good conscience ask for higher fees," Fiorentini told the council. Residents are struggling due to the recession, he said. He also chided the unions for not making concessions to ease the city's financial difficulties.
By tabling the fee increases, which would have raised the cost of a marriage license from $25 to $35 and a business certificate from $40 to $50, the council has not killed any chance of increasing fees in the future.
The council also tabled, at Fiorentini's request, his bid to defer payments on the Hale Hospital debt. The mayor said the city does not need to seek the deferment now, but if Gov. Deval Patrick imposes 9c cuts to state aid later in the year he might ask the council to approve the deferment, which he has said would decrease the city's annual $7 million payment on the debt over the next three years.
Hart said he did not support the plan, which would have extended the last year for paying off the debt from 2023 to 2026. Several other councilors had a similar view, he said.
The council also voted 6-3 to transfer $50,000 from the stabilization account to library salaries. Fiorentini said he thinks that move will save three or four positions at the library and keep the facility open Saturdays during the summer.
Initially, the library faced the loss of six positions and the director, Carol Verny, said she would have to close it Saturdays and that other services would be imperiled.
Fiorentini said the transfer would reduce the stabilization account from $800,000 to $750,000.
"What are the folks at Moody's (bond rating agency) going to say?" asked Ryan, who served as mayor from 1982 through 1987.
Fiorentini, who has expressed concern about the city's BAA bond rating — AAA is the best — admitted, "We should have $3 or $4 million in the stabilization account." Fiorentini, however, has said he intends to ask the council to impose a .75 percent meals tax, now that the Legislature has given cities and towns the authority to do so. With that and other measures, he said he hopes to beef up the city's cash reserves.
Ryan warned the city is embarking on "a very dangerous road" by using stabilization money to augment library salaries.
"You make a persuasive argument," Fiorentini said.
Verny called the $50,000 transfer "a significant help."
Hart said the initial cuts to the library were "disproportionate" and that the library's services "are needed during tough economic times."
"I'm willing to take the risk," the council president said.
Hall sternly told the mayor not to expect the council to automatically support a meals tax just because it backs helping the library.
Hart, Macek, Daly O'Brien, Hall, McGonagle and Quimby backed the transfer, while Ryan, Donahue and Scatamacchia were opposed.
Before adjourning, the council voted to delete a "sunset" provision of July 1 on talks between the city and unions on having city employees get their health insurance through the state Group Insurance Commission. Fiorentini has said the city could save up to $4 million a year by joining the Group Insurance Commission.
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