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Ask
anyone around the city, and those that are actually paying attention to
the budget process have to concede that this year, under the most
extreme of circumstances, our city is producing the most open,
transparent and communicative discussion of the next year's fiscal
budget than anyone can remember. Watching the Mayor and the
Superintendent of Schools address the Board of Aldermen and the School
Committee in their first joint public forum was a terrific outreach to
the residents of this city and we hope this will continue in the future.
This
year the situation is very fluid, as the Mayor has stated, and the
circumstances change on a daily basis. Monday it looked like a 12+
million dollar budget gap, Tuesday it looked like a 6.5 million dollar
budget gap. Next week it could look completely different.
Even
with these variables, the message has remained the same from the Mayor,
the Board of Aldermen and the School Committee – although there will be
some pain, by managing the fiscal situation using past practical
practices and a vision for the future, along with a firm commitment to
keeping our core resources strong and not moving backward, Somerville
will get through this and be even stronger as a community.
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