Covid-19 - protests - money, what do they have in common?

We have just begun the month of June 2020. By this time the administration would normally have a budget prepared in draft form to distribute to the council for review prior to a final budget going before them for a vote. This year that isn't going to happen. Talk among leadership at city hall and provided by a reliable source, the Mayor is floating a 1/12 budgrt. For the very 1st time in the history of the city the current administration will be asking the city council to take a vote on A112 budget . This has never been done before by any administration regardless of the financial situation. A112 budget is when the administration takes last year's budget and divides it equally among 12 months. They then allocate 1/12 of the total yearly budget for 2020 last year. This continues each month until such time as the administration is able to put together a budget that provides the needed services required and income to sustain that budget. Recently on WSAR city councillor Linda Perera was asked about chapter-90 funding which is money received from the state and is critical to the budget. Mrs. Perera said that she was hopeful that the state would not cut chapter-90. I believe everyone is going to be joining her with Prayer For those who may not remember, then mayor Roberts Corriea received big cuts to chapter-90 funding and he was forced to lay-off public safty personnel And instituted the now infamous rain water fee. The mayor served one term and was beaten handily by a young newcomer by the name of Will A. Flanagan. At this time no one knows what's going to happen. I think it's a safe bet that if cuts are made in chapter 90 along with all the lost revenue from covid-19, Mayor coogan will have no choice but to cut spending which means lay-offs. This rider has stated several times that if any cuts on necessary this year that they should come from the top cuts should be made to the highest paid employees and can be done in a number of ways. One way is to request ragger than lay off that the upper paid employees take a 10% pay decrease temporarily. Another way is to consolidate departments and eliminate a department head position. There is one thing that is definite and on the lips of many people already and dad is, any cuts to public safety in any way at all will result in a possible recall but eventually leading mayor Coogan out in the come election day. He would never survive re-election having cut public safety. The title to this story is appropriate. We began January with a new mayor and a new vision. Some new staff were brought in and some old department heads were kept. Mr. Coogan said he believed he had a solid team to move the city forward. Things look pretty good in the 1st 30 days and then in February some questionable decisions were made and it seems to have gone downhill from then. The decisions were that of hiring personnel. Covid-19 came in and fast things became very concerning. When governor Baker close the state and put hundreds of thousands of people out of work the small cities began to feel the impact immediately. Marijuana proceeds were averaging a $100000 a month with more funds coming from the States side. And that was from only one recreational marijuana dispensary. Marihuana was allowed to continue but never really brought in a lot of money. Not even 25% of what recreational sales took in monthly. Taxes where given a stay allowing 60 and 90 day grace so you didn't have to pay. Because people were not working and shopping they were not driving show parking meter is didn't take in the thousands of dollars per month they normally don't. In every area money stopped coming and India areas it continued it was at a fraction. People were allowed to go home while a city continue to pay them Hoping they will recuperate some of that money waiter but not Guaranteed. There is much more we could add but I think the picture is clear. This city is in serious financial trouble. Our state delegation is hoping they can convince the governor to allow some of the covin-19 reimbursement to go towards paying for city bills. Republicans in Congress have made it clear that they will not give money to cities to pay for poor budgeting as they called it. In the end, The republicans may win, and cities and towns across America will face receivership. We have a heard talk about receivership in the past but it was never even close to a reality. This time if things don't work right it's more a reality than anyone wants to face. Fall River just seen a number of protests where hundreds of people gathered in crowds around the city. In those crowds many people did not wear protective mask and there is a strong possibility that in the next few weeks we will see positive cases of covied 19 skyrocket. Something that drastic happens, it will be a burden on the city and God knows how we will come out of it all. On a bright note. This is the City of Fall River where fire, hurricanes, flooding and the killing of our factories couldn't break us. We have Defeated recessions, depressions, viruses and flus and if we stay together, stand together, and make the right financial decisions together, we will come out of here once again, FALL RIVER STRONG 💪💪💪 In my opinion, By Gene St. Pierre Fall River Daily Report.