Salem (Mass.) Mayor Kim Driscoll has become something of a role model for women like Gloucester’s mayor-elect, Carolyn Kirk, who are seeking to advance in the municipal arena.
But after a fairly tumulturous couple of years, Driscoll faces what is perhaps her biggest test yet.
In what might be described as a fiscal perfect storm, Salem was confronted last week with the shutdown of its largest taxpayer — Dominion’s Salem Harbor Station — after three men died in an industrial accident, and the revelation that the school budget may be underfunded by at least $1.8 million for the current fiscal year. This while teachers were ratcheting up the pressure for a new contract to replace the one that expired more than a year ago.
Driscoll had hoped her efforts to get Dominion to increase its tax payments would yield enough money to pay the teachers. But just as those negotiations seemed about to bear fruit, talks came to a screeching halt as plant managers were forced to deal with the accident involving one of the plant’s four boilers.
Driscoll will need every ounce of her touted legal, political and financial expertise to deal with this latest crisis. She has to be hoping the city doesn’t get hit with a surprise early snowstorm to add to its woes.
