Lawrence's urgent problem with its current budget is even more urgent now, with the impending departure of Finance Director Mark Andrews.
Andrews, the city's budget chief for the past two years, has been looking for another job for months, and was notified Tuesday night that he had been chosen to be the town administrator of Wareham, on Cape Cod.
The date of his departure has not been set. But the city's deadline for closing what the state Department of Revenue has said is a $9.5 million gap in its $80.1 million municipal budget is fast approaching.
If it does not present a plan to cure the deficit to the DOR's satisfaction by next month, the agency will not allow the city to set its tax rate. That would mean property tax bills would not go out by Jan. 1, and the city's fiscal problems will get worse.
Andrews presented his latest plan several weeks ago, saying he was optimistic that it would be approved in time for tax bills to go out on schedule.
But, his last plan, presented in September, did not satisfy the DOR. The state said it had only cut the deficit from $10.9 million to $9.5 million.
Among the measures Andrews has proposed this time are to use $1.3 million from a school building bond fund created for construction of the new high school; bill the School Department $1 million to pay for police officers in the schools, crossing guards and building maintenance; save $800,000 through electronic bill payment; save $2.5 million on health care; and use $900,000 in federal stimulus money. He said that would cut the deficit to $1.5 million.
But so far, there has been no word from the DOR on whether that will be acceptable.
Mayor-elect William Lantigua, through campaign supporter Lenny Degnan, said this week that he wants to focus on the deficit, and hopes to meet with department heads, starting with Andrews.
But it is getting late — very late. Very little will get done on the Thanksgiving holiday week. And then it will be December.
Lantigua should not have to inherit a deficit. But life in politics is not always fair. Lantigua, outgoing Mayor Michael Sullivan and Andrews must find out now if their proposal is satisfactory to the DOR. If it is not, they should find out what they need to do and get it done.
Otherwise, Lantigua could inherit a city heading into receivership.
