This just in...

If you were watching the City Council meeting or read Worcester Magazine's blog, you got some of this, but here are some points from what the City Manager told the Council this evening regarding the state budget and the city budget(s) moving forward:

• among the items in the emergency relief bill is a proposed change in the foundation formula. As this is being touted as "relief," you can bet that this will require local communities to spend less on education. Watch this one!
• State aid under chapter 70 (education funding) would not be reduced for FY09 and would be held steady for FY10
• the governor is proposing a budget tomorrow, which the Manager's office will be looking at and will be reporting back to the Council on by the end of the week (should we get anything on this, we'll post it here)
• the Manager is proposing that the city operate under an 18 month budget, running from January 1 of 2009 through June 30 of 2010.  I (and other budget-watchers) have no idea how this would work; it boggles the mind.