SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – A judge ruled Tuesday that Springfield illegally froze at least $2 million in pay raises for its teachers, dealing a hard blow to this already financially troubled city.

In a strongly worded 14-page decision, Superior Court Judge Constance Sweeney said former Mayor Michael Albano and members of his administration “twisted the clear meaning and purpose” of state law to withhold the raises in 2003.

“They turned the law on its head,” Sweeney wrote.

The wage freezes were continued for another two years by state-appointed control board overseeing the city’s finances.

Timothy Collins, president of the Springfield Education Association, praised the ruling in favor of the city’s teachers who have worked without a contract for about four years.

“I’m feeling quite vindicated,” he said. “For the past two years, I’ve been saying they violated the law.”

Albano, who did not seek re-election to a fifth term in 2003, said that implementing the wage freeze allowed him to hand over a balanced budget to current Mayor Charles Ryan in 2004.

If Albano hadn’t withheld the money, he said as many as 650 city employees would have been laid off.

“Had we not invoked the wage freeze, there would have been massive cuts which would have decimated public services and been a threat to public safety, education and the overall quality of life in Springfield,” Albano said.

Since 2004, the city’s finances have been controlled by a five-member panel appointed by Gov. Mitt Romney in a deal that gave Springfield a $52 million loan from the state to avoid bankruptcy.

In June, the board approved a $452 million budget that shrank the city’s $21 million deficit to a projected $6.5 million gap. But those projections did not take into account the teachers’ lawsuit, which was pending at the time.

AP-ES-11-29-05 1713EST