Supplemental Appropriation to the Fiscal Year 2025 NPS Budget
Video Recording: Northampton Open Media: City Council 7/2/24
Alex Jarrett: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the July 2nd, 2024, special Northampton City Council meeting. I’m Alex Jarrett, the City Council President. I’ll be presiding this evening along with Vice President Rachel Maiore. This meeting, and all participating on Zoom, will be audio and video recorded. The meeting can also be watched on Comcast Channel 15 or by streaming on Northampton Open Media’s YouTube channel. I now call the City Council to order. Councilor Maiore, would you take the roll, please?
Councilor Moulton? Here.
Councilor Klemer? Here.
Councilor Rothenberg? Here.
Councilor Dubs? Here.
Councilor LaBarge? Here.
Councilor Maiore? Here.
Councilor Elkins? Here.
Councilor Perry? Here
Rachel Maiore: Okay, you have a quorum, Council President.
Alex Jarrett: And I’m here too. Our first item on the agenda is the minutes of the May 30, 2024, special City Council/Finance Committee meeting. This is for Day Two of the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Hearing. Motion was made by Councilor Elkins and seconded by Councilor Moulton to approve. Is there any discussion on these minutes? Seeing none, roll call, please, on approval.
Councilor Jarrett? Yes.
Councilor Dubs? Yes.
Councilor Rothenberg? Abstain.
Councilor Klemer? Yes.
Councilor Moulton? Yes.
Councilor LaBarge? Yes.
Councilor Maiore? Yes.
Councilor Elkins? Yes.
Councilor Perry? Yes.
Alex Jarrett: Okay, so that passes with one abstention. Thank you. That brings us next to 24.104, an order to authorize supplemental appropriation to the Fiscal Year 2025 NPS budget. I will go ahead and read the order so it’s clear what we’re voting on.
Ordered that, as first introduced and recommended for adoption by Mayor Sciarra on June 6, 2024, the Northampton City Council appropriates the additional sum of $1,104,750 dollars for the Northampton Public Schools, bringing the total Fiscal Year 2025 Northampton Public School budget to $40,778,585. To meet this appropriation, $737,556 will be appropriated from the Fiscal Stability Stabilization Fund. $200,528 dollars from the Special Education Stabilization Fund, and $166,666 dollars from the Smith College gift.
This is in first reading. So we could consider suspending the rules so that we may vote tonight.
Marissa Elkins: Move to suspend the rules.
Stanley Moulton: Second.
Alex Jarrett: A motion was made by Councilor Elkins and seconded by Councilor Moulton to suspend the rules so we may vote on this tonight. Is there any discussion on the suspension of rules?
Quaverly Rothenberg: Yes, not on that, but I just couldn’t hear you. I wonder if you could read the order one more time when we get back to it.
Alex Jarrett: Sure. Seeing no discussion on the suspension of rules, roll call on the suspension of rules. Roll call on suspension of rules.
Councilor Perry? Yes.
Councilor Elkins? Yes.
Councilor Maiore? Yes.
Councilor LaBarge? Yes.
Councilor Jarrett? Yes.
Councilor Dubs? Yes.
Councilor Rothenberg? Yes.
Councilor Klemer? Yes.
Councilor Moulton? Yes.
Rachel Maiore: Okay, that passes. The motion to suspend the rules passes
Alex Jarrett: Unanimously. Councilor Rothenberg requested the reading of the order again. I wonder if anyone is able to share their screen so we could bring it up on the screen while we’re reading it.
(Rereading of the order)
So I would entertain a motion to put the matter on the floor.
A motion was made by Councilor Molton and seconded by Councilor Klemer. The motion, the order is on the floor for discussion.
Quaverly Rothenberg: Thanks. I’d like to see if the Mayor would be interested and willing to modify this. I understand that the School Committee is going to be reconvening, I believe, on July 24. My understanding from Member Stein and Member Cox is that they have been working on identifying places where they can make cuts that are less student-facing. And that if they had an additional $466,000, they would be able to avoid the most devastating of the cuts that are ahead of us. And so I wonder if the Mayor may be willing to increase the use of the Special Education Fund by another $150,000 dollars and then to make up the difference from a stabilization fund to get us up to an additional $466,000 that the School Committee can work with when they reconvene.
Alex Jarrett: Mayor Sciarra, would you like to speak to that?
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra: Good evening, everybody. So the School Committee has already voted this, the bottom line contingent on this being voted today, the bottom amount, or the total amount that’s in this order. So that’s what they’re looking at. And we have looked at our revenues and expenses, and these additions, these included here, what had previously been approved by the City Council, just weren’t incorporated into the full budget, are what are sustainable as long as the override is passed, to make the Fiscal Stability Stabilization Funds that are used recurring revenue added to the base of the Northampton Public Schools appropriation.
Rachel Maiore: I just want to support Councilor Rothenberg’s request to see – you know I think we had big conversations in this budget season I’ve been thinking, reflecting a lot, we had big conversations about level funding, not level funding, and I do wish that I personally . . . I wish we would have had more conversations about the in between. I was grateful that Members Serafy-Cox and Stein were looking at every position. And I do think that any position we could save would have a tremendous impact. I also want to say this, just for the public, we have a budget season and after the budget season we can, you know, we move money around all the time. The Mayor can add money at any point. I have a feeling that the schools are going to become clear that we need to, so I just wanted to just point that out to the public, that although the budget conversation will come to an end soon, that the larger conversations can still happen. Thank you.
Marianne LaBarge: Yes, thank you. I’ve been getting calls, and I also did talk to the President of the union about a week ago in regards to the cannabis funding. Mayor, could you please talk about the cannabis funding, how much we have in there, so people actually understand what that cannabis funding has for the amount of money in it? I would appreciate that.
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra: Sure. I think, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think we talked about this at the last meeting. So the revenue we take in from, um, cannabis goes into the General Fund and so it is then part of the General Fund money. So as schools are the largest portion of our budget, the largest portion of that goes to schools, but since we’ve been taking in that revenue, since Neta opened um it’s been incorporated into the General Fund
Marianne LaBarge: Thank you very much, Mayor.
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra: You’re welcome.
Deborah Klemer: Yeah, um, Mayor, it’s just a question about what Councilor Rothenberg was asking. So, if we do take money out of the stabilization fund, the new one that we’re just trying to create now, um, then if there’s an emergency during the year, that money won’t be there to use. Is that correct?
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra: Are you referring to the Special Education Stabilization Fund?
Deborah Klemer: I believe that’s the one that Councilor Rothenberg was suggesting we take money out of now to put towards the hiring back more teachers or towards a budget
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra: So we are taking $200,000, uh, $200,528 from that at an annual appropriation, and that’s being built into the budget. That’s part of this order, which you all have already voted on at the last meeting and accepted, and now have before you again, because it wasn’t incorporated into the budget.
Deborah Klemer: But if we use it now, then it’s not there for the rest of the year; it’s not serving its purpose because it won’t be there if there’s an emergency that comes up during the year.
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra: If you did an additional appropriation, again it would need to pass both bodies, and, um, it is supposed to be used for an unexpected expense that happens mid-year, involving special education. So, yes, the total expenditure is up to $350,000 in a year, and so if you use that, if you got to 350, that would be all there was for that, from that fund, for that year.
Deborah Klemer: Right, thanks for clarifying that.
Alex Jarrett: Would anyone else like to speak before we go back to Councilor Rothenberg?
Quaverly Rothenberg: Thank you. So, I hear the mayor raising the issue again about the sustainability of funding for the schools, and it brings me back to a comment that was made on the night of the special meeting where I gave a presentation, which was that the money in our reserve accounts is not entirely there for unforeseen and unexpected expenses, but that it’s all essentially accounted for already. And I think that, as the city council, since we need to be approving all the appropriations that are coming out of those accounts as they come out, it would be really helpful and important for us to understand what the plans are for all of that money so that we can weigh that against future withdrawals that may be needed for schools. And so, I’m wondering if it would be possible, during these summer months, for Director Nardi to send us a complete accounting of that, essentially earmarking of all of the assigned and unassigned funds to date, as she understands it.
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra: I guess if Director Nardi is willing to respond, I want to make sure she understands what’s being asked. And then If that’s an information request, then the Council would need to vote on whether they want to spend City resources to gather that information.
Finance Director Charlene Nardi: So, I’m not sure I understand the question. There were a couple of things. The stabilization funds—the money that in those funds is not already earmarked for specific projects. You created those funds for specific purposes, those special stabilization funds, so the, I think, the comments you might be referring to were the ones where it was spoken where we were using like the overlay funds and then there was also the $15 million dollars, I think it was a total of maybe 32 million, and 15 million of it was the encumbrances, it was in an actual graphic that was shared and the $15 million dollars in that are encumbrances, which as I mentioned they are funds that are being used for projects that are from 2023, were held over to be used in 2024 for things like ongoing SIP projects, building projects, paving projects, things that are ongoing, also for any budgets that were things that were purchased but weren’t received during that year, so we would encumber those funds. So that’s when we said those those funds are actually assigned and being used for things. That $15 million dollars, but as far as the stabilization funds those get voted by the Council by order. I’m not sure if I answered your question but that’s my understanding.
Quaverly Rothenberg: It sounds like the Mayor’s position was that if we wanted to see the accounting for all of those encumbrances and other set-asides of the assigned funds, that we would need to make a formal information request as a council, which would require a two-thirds vote. So, perhaps President Jarrett could just speak to the procedure for that, and when would be the soonest that that kind of a vote could take place, and what would need to be filed in order for that vote to take place.
Alex Jarrett: I would like to bring us back to the order that’s at hand. I’ll briefly answer your question, but then I would like us to go back to the order that’s at hand. The information request is . . . a counselor can request that be put on the agenda of a future meeting. So for example for our July 11 meeting, any councilor or group of councilors could do that and we would consider that, consider whether to suspend the rules or whether it would go to our next . . . whether we would vote on it at our . . . at the following meeting. So just to remind is … Director Nardi?
Finance Director Charlene Nardi: I apologize I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just wanted to add one thing, so the encumbrances can’t be voted to be used for budgets. Those, I mean, I know you’re talking about a public records request and getting all that information. I’m just saying those funds can’t be used for operational, they’re already in operation and being used, so just to be clear.
Alex Jarrett: Yes I think that that’s clear and and just to be clear it’s an information request, a Council information request not a public records request. So the order at hand . . . Mayor Sciarra?
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra: I just wanted to make sure that people understood. So if we’re talking about the four stabilization funds, you know the General Stabilization Fund that we have is slightly below what the state recommendation is for what the amount that it should be. Our Capital Stabilization is of course tied to our Capital Improvement Program. Our Climate Stabilization is tied to our sustainability plan and those goals. And our Fiscal Stability is being used for schools right now. So that’s if people just need to want more clarity on what those funds are for and what their purposes are.
Alex Jarrett: Thank you. So the order at hand which we read at the beginning is to appropriate this amount of money to the Northampton Public Schools. Is there further discussion on on this order?
Jeremy Dubs: I would just want to briefly just say that I will be voting yes on this order to appropriate the supplemental appropriation. But I just wanted to kind of just, for the record, say that I felt like this entire budget process has felt very rushed, and I wish that we had had more time for discussion overall so that we could have. . . I feel like I’m voting yes because I think that we should have as much funding as possible for the schools, and so that’s why I’m voting yes. I just wanted to mention that I feel like . . . I hope that we could do better next time for the next budget process. I feel like we should maybe start earlier in the discussion, given that it’s been basically only about a month and a half since we were presented the Mayor’s budget on May 16. So that’s just a general comment that I wanted to make. Thanks.
Marianne LaBarge: Mayor, I have a question for you. I spent the whole weekend going over this order, and it came to my mind – we have Community Care, and there’s 15 positions there. Those are all done by grants, is that correct Mayor ?
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra: A large proportion of them are supported by grants, but not all of them.
Marianne LaBarge: Not all of them? I have some concerns here about Community Care, and I have to agree with Counselor Maiore here. Like After we finish our budget, of maybe we should look into talking with Meredith or Larry, because they do intensive training for special needs with different types of disabilities. I’m just wondering, eventually, Mayor, if that could possibly be looked at—maybe taking maybe three out of the 15 positions. I know there was one vacancy, and I don’t know if they have fulfilled that yet—of putting them into the elementary schools to help out because they do handle behaviors or whatever. I’m just thinking, you know, off the wall right now because I heard that they were all through grants, but I’m glad to hear they’re not. But knowing Meredith and her team, I think that would be a great way to help at either one of the schools to eliminate problems. That’s my feelings toward it, so I just wanted to bring that to your attention, Mayor. Thank you.
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra: Thank you for that creative idea. I appreciate it.
Alex Jarrett: Other discussion?
Rachel Maiore: Yes, I will be supporting this order tonight. I think we all, you know, I think we’ve done what we can. We pushed the cards. I think that there’s some reflecting that needs to be done, and just so a preview, I think the council really needs to talk about some of the process issues. If I had had time, I probably would have written something for new business about having a discussion about how we engage the public in person and how we comport ourselves as counselors. I think we need to clarify that moving forward. And I just wanted to chime in with Councilor LaBarge; I think that’s an excellent idea. It reminds me of one of the letters we got where someone said the schools are kind of the resilience hub for children in our community. You know, we’ve talked about getting creative with, if we’re losing some counselors in the schools, looking at our really well-formed, superb Department of Health and Human Services is an excellent idea, Councilor LaBarge.
Marianne LaBarge: Thank you very much, Councilor.
Alex Jarrett: Thank you, Councilor. Would anyone else like to speak before I go back to Councilor Rothenberg?
Quaverly Rothenberg: Vice President Maiore, I think that the public tonight, you know, there are several of them on the call. I did mention to you, President Jarrett, before this meeting that this item we’re voting on is one that the public wanted to speak to. It concerns me when we have meetings that don’t have public comment, and it concerns me when we have public in the room who are treated, disrespectfully, in a way that limits their ability to just be present in the room. So, insofar as there’s no agenda item on it now, I do welcome Councilor Maiore bringing it.
I do want to share that concern for this meeting—the lack of public comment—and just as sort of a close on the entire budget season, there was some very concerning slippage into a place where we were, you know, you as President were really being asked to control the way people shook their heads, moved their bodies, whispered to their neighbors. I’m going to do a dive into that and at the law on it.
I’m very concerned about people’s right to participate in a public space and the kinds of messages we were sending through this budget season. So, I just want to name that insofar as it relates to even the people here not being able to have a public comment. I mean I’m sure that you have the discretion as the President to not allow that, but just the trends that were sort of slipping into are distressing to me, and to the public, and to my constituents. Thank you
Alex Jarrett: Thank you. Regarding my decision not to allow public comment at this meeting, because the subject of this meeting had been brought up at multiple meetings and we’ve had quite a bit of time for public comment there, I chose not to have public comment at this special meeting. However, I would remind folks that you will certainly be able to speak at the July 11 meeting. You can also send public comment to us by email at [email protected], or you can contact us individually as well. I look forward to further conversations about our roles, how we engage with the public and engage with each other. Is your hand still up, Councilor Rothenberg?
Quaverly Rothenberg: To the order directly: of course, it’s clearly not enough for the schools. It concerns me that the Mayor seems to have rigidity here in how much she’s willing to offer the schools. It concerns me that there seems to be a bit of a reliance on what the school committee said or what the city council said. I really want to hold the space that the mayor always has and still has and has always had—the legal power and the leadership ability to fully fund the schools. We didn’t make it to the 2 million that we’re short. We’re apparently not willing to budge another 466,000. We are dismayed in Ward 3 that we have spent this entire budget season waiting for there to be more movement, and there hasn’t been any.
So I just want to end by saying, of course we are going to approve this; of course we want the schools to get every bit of money they can get along the way. But this is still a huge disappointment to Ward 3, and I hope that we can do better. To Jeremy’s point, I hope that we will start earlier. I hope that we will start in more depth. I hope that we will do some of the work that I recommended that we do. We, as a city council, really need to step it up and do more with our budgets. We cannot leave our constituents hanging like this. This was a deep disservice to our community. Thank you.
Marissa Elkins: Move to approve.
Deborah Klemer: Second.
Alex Jarrett: It’s already on the floor, I believe.
Marissa Elkins: That was on the floor for discussion.
Alex Jarrett: Can you remind me, Councilor Maiore, who made the motion and the second?
Stanley Moulton: Well, I believe I seconded it, and I thought I was seconding it . . . for approval. That was my intent.
Alex Jarrett: Yes, okay, so it is on the floor for approval.
Rachel Maiore: Right, and I believe it is back, right?
Alex Jarrett: Right, and we are continuing to discuss.
Stanley Moulton: I represent Ward 1. There are many many voices in Ward 1. Ward 1 does not speak as a monolith. There has been movement. We are voting tonight for a second time on an additional $1.1 million dollars for the Northampton Public Schools. So, it is incorrect to say there has been no movement during this budget season.
Alex Jarrett: Thank you, Councilor Moulton.
Quaverly Rothenberg: That’s fair, thank you. That’s fair. As of 6/6 there has been no movement.
Alex Jarrett: Okay. I will speak. I I shared my thoughts on this budget on June 20. I very much wish there was a sustainable way to add even more funding for the Northampton Public Schools um and I look forward to thinking together in the future about how we can accomplish that. Seeing no further discussion, a roll call please on approval.
Councilor Dubs: Yes
Councilor Elkins: Yes
Councilor Jarrett: Yes
Councilor Klemer: Yes
Councilor LaBarge: Yes
Councilor Maiore: Yes
Councilor Elkins: Yes
Councilor Perry: Yes
Councilor Rothenberg: Yes
Alex Jarrett: And that passes unanimously. Happy Fiscal New Year.