LAWRENCE - Statehouse Republican leadership is calling for a control board for the city of Lawrence immediately or its members will not vote to support a bill that allows the city to borrow $35 million to bailout its deficit.
State Rep. Brad Jones, the House minority leader, said Republican members agreed after yesterday's hearing that House Bill 4421 in its current form "is not one we can support ... It's insufficient."
Filed by Gov. Deval Patrick on Dec. 31, the proposed bill allows the city to borrow the money and gives local leaders one year, with help from an overseer, to repair an estimated $24.5 million budget deficit and another $15 million shortfall predicted next year.
Under Patrick's proposal, if the city's finances aren't in order after a year, the state would send in a control board.
Republicans say they will vote for the bill, but they wanted to amended to include a five-person control board for the city immediately. The mayor, City Council president and three state appointees would sit on the board. The state's Attorney General, auditor and governor would be asked to make the three appointees on behalf of the state, Jones said.
Driving opposition to the bill is Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua's refusal to give up his dual role as state representative and Patrick's inability to get Lantigua to resign from the job before filing the bailout legislation, Jones said.
He said a state representative's job is not part-time.
"Maybe (Lantigua) treated his job as a part-time job and look where your city is now," Jones said.
Having an overseer work with the city for a year is too weak.
"Why are we going to put a Bayer aspirin on a massive tumor," Jones said. "Let's ramp it up now."
Tuesday, a public hearing on the bill was held during a joint session of the Ways and Means committee. Lantigua did not attend the three-hour hearing to advocate for the city. Degnan said Lantigua did not attend due to ethical reasons.
"That just proves the point. He could not show up and testify," Jones said. "If you really care about your city, step down."
A vote on the bill was expected to be taken today, but was cancelled due to snow. Statehouse News Service is reporting it will likely be more than two weeks before action is taken. It reports the legislature is not scheduled to meet next week in formal session because it is school vacation week.
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