From zoo closures to library cuts, Mass. towns confront deepening budget crisis

“There’s no ideal time to start” moving animals, DeSimone said. “But this issue has been kicked down the road for a while.”

The fate of Capron is the latest example of the fallout from a deepening fiscal crisis that has forced cities and towns to consider similar cuts to cherished public institutions, including libraries to skating rinks.

“It’s happening very broadly,” said Adam Chapdelaine, cq executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association. “There’s really no outlier communities that are immune to this.”

Officials and policy experts say the problems stem from a familiar formula that is only making matters worse over time: costs that are rising faster than revenues, a state law in Proposition 2 1/2 that limits their ability to raise taxes, and state aid that has not kept pace with inflation and local needs.

In a report released in December, the municipal association described the situation as a “perfect storm” of fiscal pressure, citing sharp rises in the cost of health insurance, pensions, special education, and infrastructure costs. The group warned that without significant changes, communities will be forced to slash services, defer maintenance, or ask voters to approve tax overrides.

Chapdelaine compared the problem to a household budget under strain.

“The things that are getting more expensive for families are getting more expensive for cities and towns,” he said. “Health insurance is more expensive. Electricity and heating are more expensive. Construction is more expensive, and it’s all happening at the same time.”

In Marblehead, officials recently raised the possibility of closing the Abbot Public Library to help close a $7 million budget deficit. Marblehead officials are also weighing cuts to the recreation, planning, and elder services departments, among others, as they prepare a budget proposal and consider asking voters to approve a tax override.

“These are the more discretionary, quality-of-life departments that make our community a wonderful place,” said Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer. “There are just no dollars to do that.

In Stoneham, officials last year considered, among other cuts, the library budget as well as a partial closure of the ice rink that’s home to Stoneham youth hockey. A group called Save Our Stoneham pushed for a tax override that passed in December.

“They were going to close our library if we hadn’t passed the override,” said Amanda Tsapatsaris, co-chair of the Stoneham group. “Saving that for a small residential town like Stoneham is huge, because the library is like the heart of a community, no one would want to move to a town without a library.”

Stoneham Town Administrator Dennis Sheehan said the ice arena is costly enough that it manages only to break even most years. Without the override, Stoneham would have had to adjust the fees and partnership arraignments for the rink, he said.

Sheehan said budget crises like the one his town faces aren’t unique.

“People think town budgets are each unique because of their particular situations, but the underlying problem is really a statewide issue that needs addressing,” Sheehan said.

In Arlington, voters will head to the polls later this month to consider a $14.8 million override, while in Marshfield, officials may ask voters to consider a tax override to cover a potential shortfall of $5 million to $7.4 million, according to the Patriot Ledger.

In some communities, overrides have failed or officials have been reluctant to pursue them, leaving cuts as the only option. “They’re a hard decision,” Chapdelaine said. “It asks more of local taxpayers.”

State leaders have acknowledged the pressure but they face constraints of their own, including slowing revenue growth and the uncertainty around federal funding. Municipal officials have called for increases in unrestricted local aid and more flexibility to raise revenue, but it remains unclear how much relief the state will provide.

In Attleboro, the Capron Zoo was opened in 1937 and is now is home to more than 100 animals, including monkeys, lemurs, a red panda, and the critically endangered Amur leopard. But maintaining those animals, along with the staff and infrastructure required to care for them, has become prohibitively expensive.

Under DeSimone’s multiyear plan, the zoo would gradually shift from “animal display” to wildlife rehabilitation. Healthy animals would be relocated to other accredited zoos or sanctuaries, while older animals would remain on site. Staffing would shrink as the animal population declines, and enclosures would eventually be demolished or repurposed.

DeSimone said the change could save the city roughly $900,000 on the employees’ salaries alone.

“When you have an animal there, they need care,” the mayor said. “Most of the staff revolves around the care of the animals.”

The Attleboro plan cites a confluence of financial pressures familiar to municipal leaders across the state: rising health insurance costs, increasing energy prices, and growing expenses for schools, construction, and basic services. In Attleboro alone, health insurance costs are projected to rise 8.4 percent this year, DeSimone said.

At the same time, the zoo needs about $57 million in capital improvement over the coming years, according to city estimates, while ticket revenue, which is largely seasonal, has declined over the past decade.

The result is a budget squeeze that has already forced the city to make what officials describe as “financial sacrifices” in other departments to keep the zoo operating at least temporarily.

The zoo will remain open through the summer, DeSimone said, giving families time to visit before changes begin. As early as April, staff will begin assessing animals for relocation.

But managers at the zoo said they were blindsided by the plan, and held emergency meetings this week to determine which animals they could realistically rehome.

Rob Verzone, the zoo’s building maintenance supervisor, said in an interview Thursday that DeSimone’s plan is all wrong.

“She’s talking about a financial crisis, but without those outside people and outside dollars coming into Attleboro that support our local businesses, I don’t see how losing this place is a solution,” Verzone said.

Claire Thornton can be reached at claire.thornton@globe.com. @claire_thornto. Nick Stoico can be reached at nick.stoico@globe.com. Hannah Goeke can be reached at hannah.goeke@globe.com.