Last modified: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 12:27 AM EDT NA considering salary cuts BY AMY DeMELIA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF NORTH ATTLEBORO - A department-wide salary cut is being considered to close a $234,000 deficit and balance the budget for the coming fiscal year. During the finance committee's meeting on Monday, Town Administrator Judith Robbins discussed the idea of a 1 percent cut to all salary lines on the town side of government in order to pare the $234,000 deficit in time for May's annual town meeting. The total budget for the 2008 fiscal year is projected at $74.8 million. Robbins said that department heads would be asked to cut their salary lines themselves - leaving the departments in charge of determining how to implement that cut. If implemented, the salary reduction would save the town about $125,000. Robbins said the budget is already very tight and there is little left to cut in the expense line items - where travel reimbursements and seminars have already been eliminated. "We've looked a lot at the budget, and I don't see a way to trim it down," she said. The budget gap originally started out much higher than $234,000. The finance committee rejected the selectmen's initial proposal to dip into the town's savings account for $1.5 million to balance the budget. Budget circumstances also worsened as revised state aid figures came in lower than expected. School staffing All told, the town needed to cut $4.8 million from its initial budget requests, which totaled $79.6 million. The school department is responsible for cutting 47 percent of that deficit - about $2.2 million. Superintendent Richard Smith said he may be forced to reduce staff by 30 people and redistrict 100 elementary school students as a result. Robbins and selectmen went back to the drawing board in order to cut the town's half of the money and putting together a budget that relied only on $500,000 from the town's savings account. The town benefited from a new health insurance plan with a higher deductible and co-pay, which caused rates to increase only 3.5 percent rather than the 12 percent projected. Another idea considered to make up the funds is a furlough program, but Robbins said it would be difficult to implement. "Selectmen have talked about a one-day furlough for employees but it's very difficult because we have to negotiate it with all of the unions. Some of our largest departments wouldn't be able to do this. For example, if a firefighter's furlough meant they went below staffing levels, they would have to bring someone in at time and a half," she said. Another option would be looking at the town's health insurance program. Currently, the town is budgeting for 20 new people to join the health insurance program. Robbins said $100,000 could be saved by "taking a chance" and reducing it to five or 10. This year, in excess of 10 joined the health insurance program with Robbins pointing out that seven new firefighters were hired and several retirees were replaced by new employees as well.