Budget Process

At Monday's meeting, the Board of Selectmen plan a preliminary discussion of the fiscal year 2013 budget process for the Manchester Essex Regional School District. Part of that discussion will be dates for joint meetings that will include selectmen and the finance committees from both towns, plus the regional school committee. The Monday meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at TOHP Burnham Library on Martin Street. - David Rattigan

The Massachusetts House budget passed last week included a $500,000 increase in funding for Head Start, including a program in Somerville. Although the state Senate must still offer its version of the fiscal 2013 budget, the amendment received wide support in the House, including from Somerville's Denise Provost, who was among 17 cosigners. If the funding increase remains untouched through the budget process, it would bring the total available grant money to $8 million, according to the office of Representative David B. Sullivan of Fall River, the key sponsor of the amendment.

With notably little rancor, the Boston City Council voted 12 to 1 yesterday to pass a budget that will close schools and trim jobs, but require fewer cuts overall than in recent years. The $2.4 billion spending plan will merge or close 18 schools, pull city staff out of a handful of community centers, and require layoffs. But the city will also add classes of police and firefighter recruits. A one-time infusion of $847,000 will help overhaul special education, and, under pressure from the council, Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s administration agreed to keep all community centers staffed at...

Several area lawmakers are mounting a push to boost state education aid to school districts that fall below a minimum funding level set by the state. The effort comes as communities, notably Swampscott, are voicing unhappiness that the $145.6 million in increased school aid proposed by Governor Deval Patrick for next fiscal year is not targeted at meeting the state's longstanding pledge to bring all districts up to the minimum funding. When the governor announced his increased aid proposal, "We were all doing cartwheels," said Swampscott Selectwoman Jill Sullivan.

Andrew Maylor, who has been selected for the vacant town manager post in North Andover, says he has a handful of projects to finish before leaving his town administrator's post, likely in mid-December. Maylor said he would like to help advance the volunteer project to build a new playground at Jackson Park, as well as get the budget process for fiscal 2013 up and running. He also would like to help the town select a contractor for building a new police station, and submit a capital article for $1.8 million toward the $2.4 million renovation of Blocksidge Field, which he said would ultimately require Town Meeting...

University of Connecticut officials have scheduled two forums this week to discuss the potential for increases in tuition rates and fees next year. UConn Chief Financial Officer Richard Gray will make presentations Monday and Thursday about the university's budget process, its funding priorities and financial challenges, and other topics. The gatherings come as UConn trustees prepare to start discussing the 2012-13 budget, including tuition and fees for students on the main and regional campuses.

The Massachusetts House budget passed last week included a $500,000 increase in funding for Head Start, including a program in Somerville. Although the state Senate must still offer its version of the fiscal 2013 budget, the amendment received wide support in the House, including from Somerville's Denise Provost, who was among 17 cosigners. If the funding increase remains untouched through the budget process, it would bring the total available grant money to $8 million, according to the office of Representative David B. Sullivan of Fall River, the key sponsor of the amendment.

MONTPELIER - Vermont Auditor Tom Salmon, a Democrat, said yesterday he is switching to the GOP because of frustration with the Democrats’ handling of the state budget. Salmon, who was elected in 2006, said he intends to run for reelection next year, adding there was only a “very remote chance’’ that he would seek higher office. Some had expected Salmon, whose father served as Vermont’s governor for two terms as a Democrat in the 1970s, to run for governor since Republican Jim Douglas said last month he would not seek another term.

CONCORD, N.H. — Governor John Lynch, a Democrat, announced yesterday that he will let a $10.2 billion, Republican-crafted budget for the state become law without his signature. Advocacy groups with clients who face reduced services and the union representing most state workers had urged Lynch to veto the budget. But Lynch said a veto would not lead to a better budget and could cause government to shut down. Lynch said that he and others raised many concerns during the budget process, which Republican lawmakers ignored.

NEW YORK -- After four years, America's cost for the war in Iraq has reached nearly $500 billion -- more than the total for the Korean War and nearly as much as 12 years in Vietnam, adjusting for inflation. The ultimate cost could reach $1 trillion or more. But even though the war has turned out to be much more expensive than Bush administration officials predicted on the eve of the March 2003 invasion, it is relatively affordable -- at least in historical terms. Iraq eats up less than 1 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, compared with 14...

EVEN BEFORE President Obama introduced his 2013 budget on Monday, the condemnatory e-mails from Republicans were rolling in: The budget raises taxes, especially on the rich; it does nothing to rein in entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid, the biggest drivers of projected future deficits; and it cuts military spending, a move that most Republicans abhor. Summing up the feelings of his Republican caucus, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan dismissed the president's blueprint as "a political document" that wasn't going anywhere.

After a year of anticipation that a property tax increase would be necessary to avoid drastic cuts in Wellesley's school programs, better-than-expected budget figures appear to have eliminated the need for a Proposition 2 1/2 override. The School Committee last week approved a $62,640,548 spending plan for the coming fiscal year that preserves programs at all the town's schools - and adds a few enhancements - while meeting the guidelines set by the Board of Selectmen. The committee trimmed $663,205 from the figure...

Stoughton's town manager is again raising the hackles of local school officials by proposing a budget that gives a more than 11 percent increase to public safety departments but only 2.5 percent to the schools. Francis Crimmins said his proposed fiscal 2013 budget reflects his feeling that schools have gotten more than their share in recent years while other departmental needs have gone unmet. But the town manager's allocation, which follows a similar move last year, is seen by some as unreasonable to the schools and smacks of power-grabbing or, at least, an...

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent Hingham officials have begun the budget process for the coming fiscal year, which is projected see a 1.66 percent budget increase overall. Town officials are working on finalizing each department's budget in the coming weeks as department heads visit with selectmen to discuss their needs and restrictions. At the moment, the town is facing a $1.2 million deficit for fiscal 2013, which begins July 1. "Sounds like a large number. It is. But it's much smaller than what previous numbers have been at this pint in time," Town...

University of Connecticut officials have scheduled two forums this week to discuss the potential for increases in tuition rates and fees next year. UConn Chief Financial Officer Richard Gray will make presentations Monday and Thursday about the university's budget process, its funding priorities and financial challenges, and other topics. The gatherings come as UConn trustees prepare to start discussing the 2012-13 budget, including tuition and fees for students on the main and regional campuses.

In the shadow of a bipartisan congressional supercommittee struggling to meet a deadline next week to approve a long-term blueprint to reduce federal budget deficits, a secondary show opens today on Capitol Hill when the House is scheduled to begin debate on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. The resolution, almost identical to one that nearly passed in 1995, faces long odds in a deeply divided Congress because it will require significant Democratic support. It could gain the necessary two-thirds majority in the Republican-controlled House, but has less chance of clearing the...

After a year of anticipation that a property tax increase would be necessary to avoid drastic cuts in Wellesley's school programs, better-than-expected budget figures appear to have eliminated the need for a Proposition 2 1/2 override. The School Committee last week approved a $62,640,548 spending plan for the coming fiscal year that preserves programs at all the town's schools - and adds a few enhancements - while meeting the guidelines set by the Board of Selectmen. The committee trimmed $663,205 from the figure initially recommended...

Stoughton's town manager is again raising the hackles of local school officials by proposing a budget that gives a more than 11 percent increase to public safety departments but only 2.5 percent to the schools. Francis Crimmins said his proposed fiscal 2013 budget reflects his feeling that schools have gotten more than their share in recent years while other departmental needs have gone unmet. But the town manager's allocation, which follows a similar move last year, is seen by some as unreasonable to the schools and smacks of power-grabbing or, at least, an...

Andrew Maylor, who has been selected for the vacant town manager post in North Andover, says he has a handful of projects to finish before leaving his town administrator's post, likely in mid-December. Maylor said he would like to help advance the volunteer project to build a new playground at Jackson Park, as well as get the budget process for fiscal 2013 up and running. He also would like to help the town select a contractor for building a new police station, and submit a capital article for $1.8 million toward the $2.4 million renovation of Blocksidge Field, which he said would ultimately require Town Meeting...