At their upcoming Oct. 23 meeting, the city council will consider a request from the city’s Chief Financial Officer Michael Bertino and the Mayor Thomas McGee to borrow $4.5 million.
During fiscal year 2018, which ended June 30, the city had to borrow $9.5 million to balance the budget. During the summer it was projected that officials would have to borrow $4 million to balance the fiscal year 2019.
A home rule petition petition earlier this year permitted the city to borrow $14 million to close the budget deficit.
“I don’t want to see us borrowing and being in trouble down the road,” said Ward 1 Councilor Wayne Lozzi, during Tuesday night’s meeting. “There are going to have to be difficult cuts.”
Council President Darren Cyr asked for information on how the budget would look if the funding wasn’t approved. How many layoffs? The impact on city services?
This past summer a $319.5 million was approved to run the city.
Bertino said this budget position didn’t happen overnight.