MASSENA — Town of Massena officials are asking departments to look at where they could cut funding by 20 percent, but a member of the Town Museum Board said that may be difficult for them to do.
During Wednesday’s Massena Town Council budget workshop, Joseph Macaulay said he had worked as a school teacher and in the public sector, and “I know there’s only one way to save money in the public sector. That’s cut personnel.”
The museum staff currently consists of Town Historian MaryEllen Casselman and Archivist Linda McDonald.
Mr. Macaulay said they could also look at cutting the equipment budget if there was one. He recalled that the museum’s equipment budget had been cut to “practically nothing” during budget discussions several years ago. His brother, John, then a member of the Town Council, explained why.
“Everyone was upset. John showed us the figures that we never spent any money,” Mr. Macaulay said. “Two years back when things were tight and nobody was able to spend any money, the former supervisor let us buy a sound system. We looked back at the last six, eight, 10 years. We didn’t spend money. So he said, ‘Go ahead and spend the money and I’ll take the heat.’”
With a request to cut 20 percent of its budget, “It sounds like the only choice we have is to close the museum and lay off the historian. In all honesty, I don’t know how we can save money. We don’t spend money except for these two people and their contractual obligations that go with them,” Mr. Macaulay said.
He said he was also concerned about the short timeline to make cuts. The town’s 2021 budget must be approved by Nov. 20, and town officials say they’re looking at a potential 20 percent cut in funding from the state, as well as losses in sales tax and casino gaming compact revenue.
“I don’t mean to sound critical, but I know it’s going to sound like it. But I think this is kind of a late time to spring this on us,” Mr. Macaulay said. “I can only speak for myself. This is the first time that this conversation’s been held. In my previous experience, conversations like this should have been held in September.”
Council member Samuel D. Carbone Jr. said he had talked in September and October about how difficult the budget was going to be with losses in state revenue, as well as sales tax and casino gaming compact revenue. Council member Robert Elsner also noted that departments had already been asked to tighten their budgets in this year’s spending plan.
“So I don’t think this is as big of a surprise as you’re making it sound like. This is something that we’ve been dealing with publicly and through department head discussions, that the budget is definitely going to be bad. We talked about the fact that we don’t have the sales tax revenue coming in. So these aren’t surprise conditions that are affecting not only this year’s budget, but next year’s budget. We need to work together and we need to find ways to cut,” Mr. Elsner said.
“We are looking at each department to nip off 20 percent of their budget. We’ve been looking for any savings that we can possibly have. We have ever since we started thinking about the budget,” Supervisor Steven D. O’Shaughnessy said. “In an ideal world, if you can give us 20 percent, that would be great. That’s what we’re facing, a 20 percent cut.”
He said they appreciated the work that was being done at the Celine G. Philibert Cultural Centre and Museum, “but there comes a point where we aren’t able to afford it. This is one of those years. Everybody does a valuable job. We’re just asking that the Cultural Centre and Museum do the same thing.”
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October 26, 2020 at 04:59AM
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Massena Town Museum Board member says budget cuts may be difficult - NNY360
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