Oct 16, 2008 6:57 pm US/Eastern
Budget Cuts Into Heart Of Massachusetts
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Gov. Patrick answers questions from news reporters about his budget cuts on Oct. 16, 2008.
WBZ
Certain cities and towns in Massachusetts, already struggling with tight budgets in a tough economy, now have heightened concerns about how hard they'll be hit by the largest mid-year budget cuts the Bay State has ever seen. WBZ'S Ron Sanders followed
Gov. Deval Patrick through central Massachusetts to learn more.
The day after he cut the state budget by historic proportions, the Governor cut the ribbon for the new Nokona / GoodGlove baseball factory in Worcester. While he said it will mean "good jobs at good wages for good people," bad news about national economic impact on the state budget stretches, at least, into next baseball season. "There's a lot of pain and it's spread very broadly," he said.
Fitchburg Police Chief Robert DeMoura says he looks at the $5 million cut in Local Law Enforcement Assistance plus $4 million in municipal police grants and worries more about these cuts: $27 million for mental health, nearly $3 million each for youth at risk and substance abuse services.
"If we have to put more police officers on the street because of the influx of individuals who need services, we don't have that," explains the chief, who has lost 20 police officers over the past three years.
Fitchburg has only five or six police officers per shift answering 40,000 calls a year in a 28-square mile city with a number of group homes where, just last week, 30 accused street-level drug dealers were arrested.
Gov. Patrick met Thursday afternoon with Fitchburg Mayor Lisa Wong, who announced a spending and hiring freeze this week, and with other local officials including Chief DeMoura to hear their problems.
Patrick says, "Every one is watching, not just state government, but businesses and families to see whether there is going to be more deterioration in the economy and if there is, we'll have to adjust."
Since Patrick's budget cut announcement Wednesday, his office has received hundreds of phone calls and more than 16,000 people have logged onto the
state's Web site.
A Closer Look At Patrick's Cuts
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