Aid cuts endanger incumbents

BOSTON - Burdened with a terrible state fiscal crisis and deep cuts in local aid, the winners of today's mayoral elections in Western Massachusetts will be dealing with some of the worst fiscal conditions in decades, observers said on Monday.

By tomorrow, the victors may be wondering who talked them into running, said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

"They are going to face horrible conditions," Widmer said. "It's a very ugly picture at both the state and municipal level."

The governor and state legislators cut unrestricted local aid for this fiscal year to $936 million, down 29 percent from the original budget for the prior year.

Widmer said he expects further reductions in local aid in the state budget for the 2011 fiscal year that starts July 1.

The fiscal 2011 budget is already projected to be $2 billion to $3 billion in the hole.

The poor economy may also be contributing to a simmering anti-incumbent mood in the state.

Northampton Mayor Mary Clare Higgins and Westfield Mayor Michael R. Boulanger both finished second in the preliminary elections and face difficult challenges in today's final elections.

Agawam Mayor Susan R. Dawson, tangled up in a legal dispute with her boyfriend's ex-wife, won't appear on today's ballot after finishing fourth in the preliminary.

Holyoke Mayor Michael J. Sullivan did not run for re-election.

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