Priorities

Our Mayor for Life has once more submitted a budget to Massillon City Council that is unbalanced. Cicchinelli shorted the amount necessary to pay police and fire salaries so that his revenue equalled his expenditures;

"Mayor Frank Cicchinelli's 2011 budget leaves short salary line items for the general fund's biggest recipients - the Massillon Police and Fire Departments - even though employees in both safety forces are guaranteed 4 percent pay raises in the new year" (The Independent, November 6, 2010).

While the city was struggling financially, while the city was facing a million dollar budget shortfall, Frank Cicchinelli gave 4% pay raises to the unionized workers of the City of Massillon;

"We'll be able to pay for these increases," Cicchinelli said. I'm not concerned about it. We will be there. I feel confident the dollars will be there to make it through this year and we'll have the dollars to make it through next year" (The Independent, July 6, 2010).

If we have the dollars to pay for these increases, then why does his budget short police and fire salaries?

Simple answer. We don't "have the dollars" to pay for these increases. We never did.

And our Mayor for Life knows it.

So why did he lie? It's about priorities.

We believe our mayor gave the police, fire, street workers, and everyone else in city government who belongs to a union 4% pay raises in 2011 while the city struggles financially, and while the citizens of Massillon struggle financially, because these employee unions endorse candidates, and Cicchinelli is running for re-election in 2011.

When former councilman Tim Bryan nearly beat Cicchinelli for mayor in the Democratic primary in 2007, Cicchinelli was having problems with some of the unions.

He won't be having problems this time.

He refocused his priorities. Winning his seventh term as mayor trumps financial responsibility every time.