BY VINAYA SAKSENA

CENTRAL FALLS — Already contending with a strained local, statewide and national economy, the City of Central Falls will have to tighten its belt even further if Governor Don Carcieri’s proposed supplemental budget is enacted, according to Mayor Charles Moreau.

The city, which has faced a large number of foreclosures and an already tight municipal budget, will almost certainly be challenged even further by the governor’s proposed cuts, the mayor said. And while he was not pleased with the prospect, the mayor said he and other city officials were already consider how to tighten the city budget even further to make up for lost revenue from the state.
“The only way to make it up is through furloughs and unpaid days,” Moreau said of the state’s financial crisis. “We’re going to look at every corner to every penny we can.”
Moreau said it was uncertain where or how the city might make the necessary cuts, but that efforts would be made to keep their actual impact on services minimal. He said that efforts would be made to ensure that public safety in particular would not be compromised, a pledge he also made last year as the city prepared to put together its budget for the current fiscal year.
The mayor noted that the city faced the prospect of its funds from revenue-sharing with the state being cut, though he said he was uncertain how much the cut would amount to. Information obtained by the Times indicated that the city could lose $1.7 million in revenue from the state.
Moreau said that layoffs made at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility after 153 immigration detainees were removed from the facility would also have negative implications for the local economy. He said that he had been in regular contact with Rep. Patrick Kennedy and Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse about what might be done to have the prisoners returned by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The mayor did say that some positive economic news may be on the horizon, with at least one business expanding its operations in the city and other changes on the way. He said that more information on this would likely be forthcoming soon. Even so, he said, regional and national economic news indicated to him that a solution to current economic problems would not come easily or quickly — in Central Falls or elsewhere.
“Unfortunately, it’s affecting every walk of life,” he said. “It’s tough for everybody, and it’s going to be tough for years to come.”