It is up to the voters of this city on next Tuesday to cast one of the most important votes in quite a while.

The mayor of Lynn is the bottom line in this city – and most leadership springs from the mayor’s office.

Mayor Edward Chip Clancy is facing his first real test in years from Judith Flanagan Kennedy.

Unbelievably enough, it is the die hard working-class Democrat Clancy versus the Republican challenger Flanagan Kennedy.

Unbelievably enough again, Flanagan Kennedy got the best of the mayor in the primary much to his surprise, when she beat him out by 200 votes in a write in campaign.

How did she do it?

She worked everyone made upset by the difficult financial decisions Clancy has made over the years. Firefighters have flocked with her. Police have taken her side. Janitors and other disenchanted city employees – among many others.

After a little less than a decade in office, Clancy met his match with Flanagan Kennedy in the primary.

No one was more surprised than Clancy. He believed he’d be the sure choice in the primary – but he wasn’t.

Now the finale is looming.

It is the finale for the relatively good times all of us have known as homeowners, city employees and residents of this city.

Next year is a looming disaster and the year after, it will come as close to the end as we’ve experienced in our lifetime.

The state is so short of money that deep cuts are going to be made and cities like Lynn are going to be out millions.

So all promises by all mayoral candidates are off – and they know it.

We believe Clancy understands this better than Flanagan Kennedy and that Clancy will continue to make the tough decisions required to keep this city stable financially.

That being said – there is a clear choice this time out.

There is old reliable Chip Clancy, now making the run of his life in order to bring out his vote and there is Flanagan Kennedy, the Republican who wants to change city government here although we can’t find out from her exactly how.

In such an environment, the vote on Tuesday for Chip Clancy of Judith Flanagan Kennedy is more important than in years past.

In years past, when the economy was booming, there was always next years profits to look forward to – more money from the state, higher evaluations on homes, more money for schools and city projects and higher salaries for everyone.

All this is gone. It is irretrievably gone.

We urge everyone to get out and to vote.

Will the voters throughout this sprawling city do the right thing?

We hope so.