Letter to the Editor from Timothy T. Collins

This is in response to The Republican’s editorial on Wednesday, January 19, 2005 entitled “Raises in Springfield must not raise concern.” The editor stated, “The state’s third largest city is a financial mess. If it is to be an economic lifeline for Western Massachusetts, it needs to hang onto its own lifeline for the indefinite future. And at the other end of that lifeline? It’s the Finance Control Board making some tough decisions.”

With the decisions the Finance Control Board has made up to this point, they are behaving more like an anchor than a life preserver. Ask any realtor what the most important things a community needs to maintain and improve its property tax base. At the top of that list, you will find the school system.

Let’s look at the Finance Control Board’s decisions relative to the Springfield Public Schools:
 School department budget has the money in the current budget to pay teachers the contractual wages that have been frozen. The Finance Control Board has inappropriately and illegally implemented State Statute 656 keep wages frozen. Since June 30, 2004, over 160 highly qualified and certified teachers have left our school district to work in surrounding communities where they are paid anywhere from $3,000 to $12,000 more than they made in Springfield. What business manager would cut the pay of its highly skilled workers below the established market rate and expect to improve or even maintain the company’s reputation and product reliability?
 Attorney General Reilly’s office, while defending the commonwealth in the Hancock case, admitted that the state is not meeting its constitutional obligation to the children in the Springfield Public Schools. Knowing this, the Finance Control Board asked for and received from Governor Romney a waiver of approximately one million dollars of the city’s legally obligated minimum contribution to the schools.
 When the SEA prevails in our court challenge to the wage freeze, the city will be obligated not only to pay out the 6 million dollars owed, they will also be required to pay 12 percent interest.

To date, the actions of the Finance Control Board have had a serious, detrimental impact on the Springfield Public Schools. Eventually, this will have a negative impact on the property values in Springfield putting the city’s ability to ever recover from its “financial mess” in jeopardy. These may have been “tough decisions” for the Finance Control Board but they are not wise decisions for the citizens and children of Springfield.

Hanging on to a lifeline attached to the Finance Control Board will not only drag the city of Springfield to the bottom but will probably bring down a good portion of Western Massachusetts with it.

Sincerely,

Timothy T. Collins
President