BOSTON -- Mayor Thomas M. Menino signed into law Boston's $1.4 billion budget for fiscal 1995 last week, saying the plan is the first step towards creating, "a better Boston."
The budget was the Menino's first as mayor. Boston's fiscal year began last Friday, July 1.
In an interview on Friday, Menino said that he was especially pleased with the level of communication and cooperation that existed between the city council and the mayor's office in finalizing the budget.
"This budget reflects the priorities of the whole administration," he said. "We all worked together on this."
The budget calls for 320 new police officers, 58 more firefighters, and expanded hours for city-run community centers and libraries -- programs and services the mayor promised to improve during his election campaign last year.
"There was very little difference in the final budget from the preliminary one," said John C. Simmons, Boston's chief financial officer. "We added about $400,000 for the community center, some extra street cleaners, and we want to hire another attorney for the city, but other than that it's the same."
Although the budget will produce a small surplus for the city, one fiscal watchdog said there are still concerns that have not been addressed.
Samuel Tyler, director of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau said that overall the fiscal 1995 budget is a sound document. But, he said, there is a structural deficit of about $20 million in basic services that must be met.
"Certainly this is a balanced budget, and the city will meet all of the salary increases that are required for the year," Tyler said. "It's just that it will be increasingly difficult to maintain a high standard of living in the city until the structural deficit is corrected."
Menino said that he is working on the problem and will continue to make changes in the size and structure of city government.
"When I took over as mayor, there were 23 different unions in the city with unresolved contracts," he said. "I have two left to settle, police and fire, so I think that's a good start."
Menino said it was necessary to resolve these disputes immediately because his predecessor, former Mayor Raymond F. Flynn, neglected them for more than three years.
The budget that Menino signed is essentially the same document he submitted to the council earlier this year.
Overall, the mayor's budget enacts a 3.2% increase in spending from the previous fiscal year, which ended last Thursday. He increased spending by 8.2% in the health and hospitals department, 3.5% in city departments, 2.6% in county departments, and 0.5% in schools.
Menino said the city's debt service burden will decline slightly this fiscal year to about $88 million from $89 million.
The mayor also signed the city's $408 million school budget, which was $4 million higher than last year's budget.
