The Northampton City Council met to discuss and vote on the 2024-2025 school budget on June 20, 2024. A meeting recording is available at the following YouTube Link: Northampton City Council 6/20/24. City Council met again on July 2, 2024 for an additional appropriation to the school budget. Councilor statements from the initial budget discussion on June 20 are included below.
Contact City Councilors about School Funding
If you would like to ask questions, respond to statements made by the Councilor in your Ward, or express your thoughts about school funding to City Council, you can send an email to [email protected] or speak at public comment during an upcoming meeting.
Councilor Statements
Stanley Moulton, Ward 1
June 20, 2024
Video Time Stamp: 4:12:08
I think it’s important that we emerge from this. This has been one of the most contentious and very difficult issues, and that has involved so many people in the community. It’s really ripped the fabric to some extent that I can remember in decades. It’s important that we emerge from this learning some lessons and committing to working together.
Council Maoire mentioned the word collaboration, and that is important, and I hope that we can emerge from what has been a very divisive period here and commit to collaboration – all of us. There are many, many, many voices that we’ve all heard from, and I want to emphasize, as we’ve said on other issues, just because we vote a certain way doesn’t mean that we haven’t heard those voices and that we haven’t been listening to those voices. It’s the people who are here tonight – I appreciate your being here – but it’s everybody else who has reached out to me, both in my ward and throughout the city. I have met with people, and I’ve responded to emails, and talked to people on the phone.
So that healing process is going to take some time, but I hope we emerge with a commitment to work together and to become stronger. I will say it’s distressing to vote for a budget that involves – that results in – people losing their jobs. That’s a terrible thing, as Councilor Jarrett said.
I want to address a couple of things other than the school budget while I have the opportunity, and one is to return to the Fire Rescue Department, as Councilor Jarrett mentioned, and to tell Chief that I heard you, both in the tour we had in February and when you spoke at the budget hearing on May 30th. A 1.65% increase for Fire Rescue for FY25 when your calls have steadily gone up 9% increase over the past years is insufficient. I will be an advocate for looking at how we can find the money to increase staffing in Fire Rescue. That to me that’s very important.
I also want to talk for just a minute about the Department of Health and Human Services and the work that Commissioner O’Leary and her entire team is doing to expand from what was a traditional, very modest public health department into a really regional model with all the things that you’re doing. And yes, you are supplementing your appropriation from the city, which is only up by a little over 3% next year, with a lot of grant money, and that’s risky. But Commissioner O’Leary, as she said during the budget hearing, has a terrific track record, hasn’t had to lay off any staff that were funded by grants, and I trust her that she will continue that.
So I am impressed with the work that she has done to secure those grants in a way that allows DHHS to do so many things that are serving, again, some of the most vulnerable people in the community with a Division of Community Care, with a vaccine program that immunizes children that don’t have access to health insurance, particularly immigrants. And so I commend Commissioner O’Leary and I commend the Department of Health and Human Services for all that you’re doing.
And I was very disturbed by the suggestion that somehow the resilience hub is being done for show in Northampton. It is not. It is a project that has emerged from a number of years of really considering how we can help people who need to be connected to services, who are on the streets. And I think that as a community, Northampton has both the resources and the will to serve – to offer services to vulnerable people, whether they’re on the streets or in the schools. And I’m glad that we have a mayor who sees the vision for being able to do that as something that’s necessary.
Regarding the school budget, I appreciate, as others have mentioned, all the educators and parents who have spoken to me, particularly the group of more than a dozen people I met with at Jackson Street School on May 29th. I learned a lot about a modern school and how all those staff positions fit together and how they’re all necessary.
It is very, very difficult to be at a point where we are having to consider how to sort of triage the needs of the schools, and I recognize that the needs of the schools go beyond the 8% budget increase that we’re currently considering, but I don’t want us to be in a situation where we’re continuing to use non-recurring sources of revenue to patch that. I don’t want to be in a situation where in two years we’re back here again, looking at how we’re going to patch it. We need to find sustainable ways of funding our schools that go beyond the level services, maintaining excellence.
There is work to be done both on the budgetary front, and I agree that we need to be pushing the state, and I will be an advocate for that. But beyond that, to look at things in the schools regarding curriculum, regarding the inclusion model that’s being used, regarding assessment tools, and all of that, that I believe the new superintendent will provide some leadership on. And it has to be done in a way that really takes a holistic look at how we’re operating the schools to make sure that we’re doing it in as effective and efficient way to maintain excellence.
So I – no, of course it’s not a perfect budget, and it leaves some things to be desired, and perhaps we’ll find a way during the course of the coming fiscal year to look at how we can provide more money, particularly to the schools. But I feel that we’ve done, at this point, what we can to address holistically the needs throughout the city and to do that in as sustainable a way as we can. So I will vote for this budget.
And I also want to say that my vote for the budget, and particularly the school department – the NPS portion of it, is a vote of confidence in the superintendent. I appreciate her leadership this year. She’s been in a particularly challenging position, her willingness to listen, and her willingness to be flexible, and to make adjustments very quickly, and I hope that she – I hope she remains as the leader of the Northampton Public Schools. Thank you.
Deborah Klemer, Ward 2
June 20, 2024
Video Time Stamp: 4:27:00
I care deeply about students, teachers, and all the support staff. My father and grandmother were teachers, my father-in-law was a school superintendent, and two of my brothers-in-law were teachers. I fully support people who want to make changes, but to make these big changes, I feel it is also important to work with your colleagues, to learn from those who have been on the job longer and have more knowledge and experience.
Overestimating one’s own abilities and knowledge while disregarding or undervaluing the expertise of others can indeed be disruptive and counterproductive in a collaborative decision-making environment like city council. Unfortunately, during this process, this is not the way it was done. Those who didn’t agree with the small group were shut out, criticized, hissed at, and our jobs were threatened. Meetings were held in secret, and newsletters were only sent to people who were in agreement with their belief that a level service budget could work without running out of money in a couple of years.
Even this evening, one of the teachers who spoke criticized a phrase I used the other night on Monday and thought commenting on it was a good point to make. Where’s the compassion? These are comments from some of the residents about the way the process was handled. Someone said the city council must vote in the best interest of the city as a whole, not be unduly swayed by special interest groups organizing a pressure campaign. The vitriol and ire that has been present during the budget season is reminiscent of our current national politics. These tactics are unacceptable. We don’t want that for Northampton.
There’s a small and extraordinarily snarky and unkind group that is pushing an irresponsible and unrealistic agenda and painting those of us who call it out as terrible people who do not care about teachers, students, and our schools. This, of course, is ridiculous, but it has the effect of tearing our community apart and silencing people. And when I say silencing people, I mean both figuratively and literally. Their Facebook group administrators routinely remove participants who seek to have an actual discussion about the school budget, thereby creating a perfect echo chamber.
My city council suggested that this could be,um I am writing to express my concerns regarding the current conflicts over the city and school budgets and the hostility towards city leadership it has generated. A city councilor suggested that and it has generated that the creation of a level budget could be accomplished in town hall meetings. Who would be willing to participate in town hall meetings with hostile people who scream at you for not caring about children if you suggest cutting a school budget? Seriously right now, nobody I know even wants to risk appearing at public comment.
These are all we have all gotten these letters we’ve all received, so I’m sure you’ve all seen them. Many residents have written or spoken to me about their concerns about the false information that a small group is promoting and the means that some councilors used to delay the vote on the budget and, more importantly, on the extra $1.2 million and the creation of a special ed fund. Do these councilors know that they will lose the extra money if we don’t approve the mayor’s budget? Many of our residents do.
A resident wrote that this group is spreading incorrect information about the budget, city funds, and what they have labeled as free cash. They claim that there are responsible ways to fully fund schools without an override, without cutting city services, and without impacting our bond rating. Yet to date, with several weeks until your deadline,this has obviously been a while ago there is no explanation of what was meant by that. This delay tactic will only exacerbate the already great tensions in the community when we should be working together for the best of everyone in the city.
At Monday’s special meeting, there was no immediate plan to fully fund the schools. Mr. Simon presented a couple of graphs that were posted on Facebook and the suggestion was to use the free cash to fund the schools with no plan to replenish it. This is the mayor and Director Nardi’s plan. There was no plan for replenishing free cash or how we recover capital projects and any emergencies that arise. Director Nardi explained multiple times with graphics that the money would run out in short order, but they dug their heels in and insisted it would work.
The fact is that intransigence and demagogic appeals to emotion are bad for government, whether exercised on the right or the left. We all received the following email on Tuesday. Ultimately, Councilor Rothenberg’s numbers were exposed for what they are—smoke. Her final proposal was to proceed to empty our savings and then spend next year in a series of endless brainstorming. Maybe the system needs to be looked at, and the schools have been given more and more money, and there are still a lot of things that could be changed in the schools.
I will be voting to pass the mayor’s budget, and I want to thank many members of our community who have called and written in support of this budget, Mayor Sciarra, and Director Nardi for all their work they put into it, and for getting us on the road to fiscal stability.
Well, it just proves my point about what all these people were saying—that I try to encourage people to come… I try to encourage people to come and speak out about the multiple letters I’ve gotten. I asked them to come to City Council, to write, and they all didn’t want to because of getting hissed at or getting criticized. So that’s why a lot of the comments were one-sided the last few sessions here.
Quaverly Rothenberg, Ward 3
June 20, 2024
Video Time Stamp: 4:22:05
I really appreciate your comments, and I hope that we will get to work in September on thinking about how we can get a jump on our budgeting processes and do them in more depth so that we can do the kind of work that you’re suggesting would be beneficial.
I also just want to say to the school committee and the school community: it’s the end of the year, and I picked two of my girls up from Bridge Street School. I was approached by a woman named Marcia, who is both of my daughters’ speech helper. One of my daughters graduated out of needing the help, so she doesn’t need the intervention services next year; and one of them will continue to need the help and will continue to work with that interventionist. I should say she may be a special education teacher. In any case, she sees my daughter for 30 minutes every day.
My daughter is incredibly smart. She taught herself how to read, she taught herself math, and she taught herself how to speak Polish. She’s six, and she did that when she was five, four, and three. But the one thing that she needs help learning at school is what’s called a communication breakdown.
I think it’s so interesting when we talk about divisiveness here and a lack of ability to collaborate. I think it’s so interesting to see the way that our children are learning how not to have those kinds of communication breakdowns. I think our government will look very different in 20 years, thanks to our school system.
To Councilor Maoire’s point about every position mattering: it’s so easy for me to see, because I’m autistic and because my kids are. It’s so easy for me to understand that. My child is not falling behind in math; she probably doesn’t even need to go to school for math. She probably doesn’t even need to go to school for reading. There’s no Polish, but if there was she might not need to go to school for Polish.
What she needs to go to school for is the communication breakdown, because she’s autistic and doesn’t necessarily understand what it means when someone taps you on the shoulder — or how gently you should tap them on the shoulder so you’re not poking them and scaring them. Those things don’t come naturally to her; she has to learn them intellectually, just like I’ve had to learn them intellectually.
I’m deeply apologetic if there is anything about my affect that you ever misunderstand as having some other kind of intent. I always come here with courage and kindness. And so does my daughter, but she needs a lot of help. So when this Marcia came up to me, she told me a story that I think really illustrates what the community has been trying to express to us:
During Teacher Appreciation Week, all of the kids always rush to give their general ed classroom teacher — in this case, it was Dr. Joanne Morgan — their card to say “We appreciate you so much.” Each kid makes their own card. My daughter was the first person ever who made a beeline to Marcia, who she sees 30 minutes a day, identified her as her teacher, and said, “I appreciate you so much. I love working on communication breakdowns.” Her card said, “Who loves working on communication breakdowns? I do.”
I think what this tells us is that we don’t know and can’t decide what it is that each child in our community needs to learn. We don’t know why they are going to school. We are so lucky to live in the Pioneer Valley, where our educators have helped us develop a model, where our parents have advocated for us to have a model, and where our administrators have found ways to start working in that model that allows all of these kids to have their different needs met. So, it’s really not for us to say that an interventionist is not needed. That could be the most important teacher and the only teacher that that student needs.
And I just hope that as we move forward we really try to open our minds and understand what the schools today in Northampton look like. They don’t look like the schools we went to 30, 40, 50, 60 years ago. They just don’t. They provide different services and essential services, the kinds of services that change the world. That’s why it’s an essential value to our community.
I want to thank the community for engaging. Everyone who has written to me, with the exception of two or three people, has been able to engage productively in wonderful civic participation. I was so thrilled getting to know all of you who have been showing up to advocate for schools — and to discover, particularly, that you don’t know each other. You don’t come from the same social groups and social classes; you are just a random sampling of our community. I think that speaks volumes, as well.
So, I thank you very much. We will see you again in September. We will be back to school and back to school-funding. Thank you.
Jeremy Dubs, Ward 4
June 20, 2024
Video Time Stamp: 3:55:06
Thank you. I’m here tonight to represent the people of Northampton, not to be a rubber stamp. I believe that the most effective and powerful tool that I have as a councilor is my vote. I believe strongly that my vote should reflect the priorities and values of our community. Throughout this budget process, I’ve been exploring, along with other councilors, all the options that we might have. I’ve been exploring these options with an open mind in order for us to work together to find a solution to our school budget crisis.
The proposed budget would eliminate teachers, specialists who work with children with disabilities, and support staff. It would cut essential services to our most vulnerable and marginalized students. The proposed budget is not, in my opinion, reflective of our values and priorities, which is why up until this point, I thought it was necessary to delay the vote in order to give us time to keep talking about it. But now, here we are tonight, and it’s time to vote. We’ve looked at all of the options, and now we have to make a decision.
Therefore, tonight, I am voting for our children, their educations, and their futures. I am voting to not cut funding or services from schools. It’s as simple as that. The kids are worth it. And I’d like to know, what are we even doing here if we aren’t doing everything we can in our power to protect the future of and serve the needs of the children that we are here to represent? We must level fund our schools.
Furthermore, I’m not happy with the DPW budget. The sidewalks in Northampton are atrocious. We’ve got flood pumps from the 1930s that keep us in danger of flooding. I don’t know why the DPW budget is being cut. I think that’s absolutely ridiculous. The current budget is not acceptable. I cannot in good conscience approve of it. And that’s all I have to say.
Alex Jarrett, Ward 5
June 20, 2024
Video Time Stamp: 3:47:58
So this has been a long and painful process and I’d say especially for school staff and parents and students. A couple of weeks ago, I asked the mayor why we couldn’t have arrived at this number earlier…because, the fluctuation has been really difficult. I understand the reason…thank you for explaining those and I understand them, but it’s still upsetting how much that delay, how difficult that has been. And, our charter requires us to approve a budget and, I can’t say I feel good approving it because it’s a very difficult compromise between student needs, wider community needs, long-term fiscal responsibility…painful choices.
After listening to many voices, I advocated with the mayor for the additional funding and I thank you for putting that forward. I agree with many who advocate for taking the holistic view of the city’s needs and funding them appropriately regardless of what the funding was in the past years…but given that sustainable funding that meets all the needs isn’t possible, we have to find that compromise…and I wanted to speak about a couple other departments. As we’ve heard, several other departments have cuts or level funding, especially in operations and maintenance, the non-personnel side. There are departments like Central Services and IT that support the schools as well as we have a significant portion of employee benefits that supports the schools.
Fire rescue has had a tremendous increase in call volume with the same staffing for years and they now get – we got a tour of fire rescue a couple of months ago – and they used to be able to get sleep on their 24-hour shifts and that’s pretty rare now. I’m amazed that they prefer that; to have a 24-hour shift because I don’t think I could handle it without sleep but I appreciate them and that work.
I stand by the recommendations of the Policing Review Commission. I want to see more responses transferred from the police department. I see the work that’s being done to integrate, to be able to, to be legal to integrate Division of Community Care into dispatch. But in the meantime, they are the ones responding to ever more requests from the public and still have much forced overtime – and someone needs…to respond, but I think there’s more appropriate response, but someone that hopefully we will get to. But someone needs to respond.
I think the Public Works getting a 1% cut – they don’t have the resources already to meet the maintenance needs of our streets and sidewalks, plus requests for traffic calming and safety improvements. That’s very hard.
We heard about the Health and Human Services Department and all the work they’re doing – it’s important to remember that supporting the adults and families supports children. That’s true of so many different areas.
Then we have Culture and Recreation, which is our two libraries, Parks & Recreation and Arts & Culture,it supports the wider community culturally and economically,any cuts to them would have a large impact on their services but provide little relief to the schools.
So, to conclude on that side about thinking about other departments, there are very tough choices involved and there are significant impacts and I don’t see a better option for sustainable funding than what is currently on the table.
I mentioned that with this budget, there’s more financial risk. We’ve heard the less conservative revenue expectations, the lower capital funding, and when you don’t fund capital now, you have to fund it more later. That’s a concern I hope we’re able to keep up. Without pandemic funding, we’ll be more reliant on our undesignated fund and our reserves. If we enter the recession, if we encounter a public health emergency, or another emergency we haven’t planned for, we’re going to need all the dollars in the emergency stabilization fund to maintain the services while we get through that period.
The undesignated funds, a significant portion of that each year funds our capital needs as I mentioned. I think the override passing in November is critical to maintain these levels for the schools and other departments. One of the most concerning things I’ve heard is that we can fund everything without an override. That’s true only in the very short term by completely depleting our reserves. Without the override, by my calculations, it would only be a few years before the undesignated fund, the fiscal stability fund, and the emergency stabilization fund would be gone, and we would see tremendous cuts across the board. These funds were built up over 12 years and included additional Pandemic funding.
So, it’s awful, the choices are awful. I’m willing to vote for this budget, but I don’t like it. I would ask the mayor, will you be adding anything more to this budget? Because that’s the only path for additional funds. If not, and I’m not advocating for that because I understand the situation, but as clarified earlier, if we don’t pass it tonight, the one submitted on May 16th will go into effect on July 1st.
On July 1, you’ve indicated that if it doesn’t pass, you will submit those orders that add back in the amendments we approved tonight. The practical effect…you’ve indicated to me that you will not be adding more, I am happy if you would like to say that yourself. The practical effect of this delay is that staff will have to wait longer to be recalled, which means we potentially lose people who will be looking for other jobs, the school committee and superintendent won’t be able to determine exactly who will be kept.
Marianne LaBarge, Ward 6
Rachel Maiore, Ward 7
June 20, 2024
Video Time Stamp: 4:03:52
There was so much. This has been a . . . it feels like a very, very long budget season. Of course, it’s the same amount as usual, but it feels, I feel like there’s so many things to say that I actually couldn’t, it was really hard to even focus in on what, what to address. It’s almost like we needed to have interim meetings to process everything that’s happening here.
I think we’ve all, we all agree, we are in a nearly impossible situation. This is a problem that’s bigger than all of us, including our Mayor. It’s too much. It’s too much for the Mayor. It’s too much for everyone. We see this nationally, we’re seeing it at the state level. It’s heartbreaking and something needs to change. And I, I, I applaud my W7 resident who suggested that we really take on the State House. I know we’ve said that, but I think, I think it’s, I think this, the stress of this budget season has really clarified that we need to do that.
I believe that the Mayor has done what she feels she can do with this. I, I think that we have a, you know, I think there’s a fundamental kind of visionary disagreement about how to proceed and that we, I, I understand the fiscal responsibility concerns. I also feel like the issue with the schools, for me, is that . . . we don’t have years in these children’s lives, we just don’t. It’s not something we can, we can ever give them back.
And so, I wasn’t looking necessarily… I would love level funding. I think we need much better than level funding, and I think that’s not really all on Northampton. I think that’s, as I said, a national and state trend.”
But I, I look at this and I, I’m holding this responsibility too. Every line item in here, every line item in here, can we really say tonight that everything in here, every line, is more important than this math interventionist, than this para? That’s my concern and maybe I should have worked harder to look through that, to say that “no, this line item is more important”. But I feel like I can’t say where we could get. I think everyone’s really tried, including the mayor, but I think I can confidently say that I think we could go a little further. And just because I think every position matters, I understand level funding, I think that every position matters and even one or two positions make a huge difference in the environment in the school and in the experience of the students.”
And I, I don’t even really want to blame someone. I think it’s a huge problem . . . and I will say the one kind of process comment I’ll make is Northampton’s a very, can be a very polite type of place. It’s, and the flip side of that is, it is hard for us, I think sometimes, to disagree in a way that’s productive because I think what it would have taken to get to a more livable budget is more creative, out of the box thinking and that would have taken collaboration. And I’m not pointing fingers but I’m saying I don’t think we actually got there and so we missed out on new ideas and fresh, you know, a fresh look to find just anything.
And maybe the conversation was too much All or Nothing, level funding or not. Because I know that I’m sitting here and thinking of the specter of this. I really wish I could grab anything I can for the schools . . . I do want to just say to, you know, folks out there that we, there’s a lot of drama around this budget season and but we move money all the time, outside the budget season and I know that if the mayor sees an opportunity she will do that, she will, we will, she will try to, and, and it sounds, to be honest, we are going to have to fill voids almost as soon as we get through budget season and I know the mayor will do her best and, and Council will too.
I do want to just emphasize that . . . we will end this budget season but this city government is just constantly in motion and that’s something to think about. So, I know how very, very hard everyone has worked. I have been so impressed with all these hard-working school staff . . . sending us . . . five times, eight-page letters with details about their day. I mean, I’m floored.
. . . I’m stuck at a place where I see the stress . . . So I’m not here to cause more stress, I’m not here to look for lots of special meetings, I’m not getting the feeling that the mayor is in a week or in three days going to come up with something. I think we could look at the capital stabilization fund and get $275,000, $500,000 to get a few more positions and that’s something we can think about but I, in the end, I just, I need to, I, I have to vote with my conscience.”
I don’t think this budget is all we could do and I don’t want to put that in anyone’s lap in particular because I think we all had times when we tried and all times when we kind of failed, including myself. That’s where I’m at right now, I’m very torn about it, I’ve gone back and forth but that’s where I am.
Marissa Elkins, At-Large
June 20, 2024
Video Time Stamp: 4:34:00
I am sure that folks who have followed this whole discourse understand very well that I will be voting to approve this budget with its amendments, and I am not supportive of further delays. I have done my best to speak to as many people as possible, and I have found that those conversations, in general, whenever I can have them, have folks leave even if there isn’t agreement or understanding of where we are or how we should deal with the problem, folks feel better for having talked. And so I’ve really tried to talk to as many folks.
I have also been clear and consistent throughout all of this, when people asked me, “What do you think’s going to happen, what do you think’s going to happen?” I couldn’t predict the exact percentages, or the numbers, or the exact things. But the thing I have been saying throughout that I believed the mayor would bring forward a responsible budget and that the Council would approve that budget. I will note that the mayor has brought forward a responsible budget, and I mean “responsible” in all senses of the word—in terms of as robustly as we possibly can, funding our priorities as much as we can.
And that involves a lot of things – that involves taxing, setting our tax rate at the very highest that we can possibly do without an override, which we do and always have. That involves spending the greatest percentage of our budget on schools, and spending in excess of the net school spending, which is the minimum that we have to spend, we spend well in excess of that. I think at the budget we finally arrived that, that will eventually go into effect, hopefully tonight, that we are around 140% of net school spending. And we also have going into this process a fiscal stability policy that gives the schools a greater guaranteed increase than any other budget in the department.
And the mayor of course has also pledged to exceed that even, so it’s 3% of the fiscal stability policy and it’s 4% based on what the mayor has promised. I have to say, this is my third year, my second term, and I have been throughout all of this I have been struck as I always am when we go on tour of the departments and we see all the work that people are doing, when we work on legislative initiatives outside of the budget process, Councilor Jarett and I work a lot on zoning and housing things, and I’ve worked with Councilor Maiore on the Energy and Sustainability Commission, where we’ve brought forward some really important things that were supported by advocacy and our community. And it is, and all of that, I’m struck so much by the extraordinary work of all our department heads, including our schools, and all the people who work in those departments.
I regret that this year has become an all-or-nothing proposition, that it is either this or this. I am positive that every single one of us, I hope every single one of us can look back at these last several months and imagine things that they wish they had said differently or communicated in a different way, and I include myself in that. And I hope that is true of every person sitting in this room feels the same because 100% it is true of all of us.
That being said, I also like to imagine what this season would have looked like, with another discourse, another version of how this could’ve gone. We could’ve had a situation in which our shared pain and distress at this moment — about the lingering effects of COVID, the extraordinary inflation and rising costs, and some of the pre-existing conditions that were happening in the schools that meant we had a difficult road ahead of us to begin with — if we could have started from a place that acknowledged that the fiscally responsible, the most fiscally responsible thing to do would be to adhere to what has served us so well, and helped us meet our priorities over the past and also that this moment required a reassessment and that we had a superintendent who challenged, and this part I feel particularly strongly about, is that in the face of, because the mayor did nothing wrong to hold on to something that had served us well and gotten us through incredibly hard times and want to stick to that policy.
And we have a superintendent who the very first thing she did was, “Mayor, I can’t quite make this work, this is really the best I can do.” And she brought forward a budget that was more than what the Mayor said she thought she could do and what she started out saying she would encourage us to pass. And I just like to imagine that if we had that, and we had a superintendent who did that, and that the school committee that had supported her in that number, which would’ve been a challenge and a difficult discourse to begin with, even that, passing that budget would’ve been a difficult conversation. And that the mayor had reached, as she did, where we finally ended up, we have ended up at the number that is Dr. Bonner’s First Look budget. It doesn’t look exactly how I think she put forward, none of us can speak to what the number represents now, or who would be cut, or what job loss it’s going to ultimately mean. But I just wish we could’ve, I just could’ve imagined a different discourse, and we were in a really difficult time, and we still made a shared sacrifice and we worked really hard to get there and to come to terms with it. We have all stretched, we’ve all grown, I know I certainly have evolved in my thinking. I think there was a point in time that if the Mayor had come forward with an additional $740k that she has added at this point that I might have had hesitations about that. Because as Councilor Jarrett said there are risks associated with how we have modeled this out, there are risks associated with rolling these one-time funds into the base budget and going forward.
Also to those folks who have been advocating it’s important to note that all the levers you’ve been suggesting we use, in fact we have used them, in fact that’s how we have reached this number. We have pushed revenue, which is essentially using free cash, we are taking out of stability, we are establishing a stabilization fund dedicated entirely to the schools and things that can be funded through the schools. What is difficult is that we can’t push these levers as much and as hard as we’d all like to do to be able to level fund, to level staff. We can’t do it. The reserves would be gone within three years. And we won’t have done the capital and the projects.
I am proud of what we have achieved. Even in this difficult process we’ve gotten to a hard place but I’m also as many folks know and listed to when I’ve spoken in the past, that I’m proud that we are working toward our sustainability goals, that we are recovering economically recovery from COVID, and the damage wrought by our most infamous absentee landlord. That we are finding solutions and resources for all residents, including the most vulnerable.
Regarding our capital spending, the hub is a direct outcome of the important work that our community did in the Police Review Commission. We were asked to create this, we were asked to do this, this mayor has put it into place. If you haven’t gone to any of the tours to go see that, it is not a derelict place; when it is done and you can already see it, it will be a place of dignity. It will be a beautiful place, a place of dignity and a place where we’re going to provide resources for those among us. That it is a priority and a value, that we help those folks.
The investment in our city, represented by the Main Street redesign, $20 million—I don’t even know exactly the right, but $20 million investment in our city. I can’t go up on the school’s, but directly goes to the things that Councilor Perry was talking about in terms of our long-term economic viability and being the kind of city that people want to come to. But that, to say nothing of that, even if we put those things on, not which are not pet projects by any sense, but the ongoing maintenance of our streets and the sidewalks increase road safety for cyclists and pedestrians, particularly in front of the high school—all of that is what is funded by our capital.
I also have to add to those folks who have said, I’m very concerned about adding staff to Fire and Rescue. That is clearly going to need to be done in the coming years. And I’m sorry, I’ve spoken too long, but you know, we kind of talk a lot, we listen to hours of people and we don’t have to, so I’m trying to. I have, I think there are two very important things that depend on our ongoing and continued sustainability. And I don’t just mean sustainability fiscally, I mean sustainability in terms of our services. And by that I mean if we can, if we can get to where you know this year is going to happen, it’s going to be, and then going forward that we can maintain that. I think that’s incredibly important. And there’s two things that I think are incredibly important.
I am optimistic and I’m also incredibly proud of the work that I’ve been a part of and the service that I’ve been able to do as a part of the strategic planning committee. People have asked, people have asked what is the plan, how are we going to move forward? And the fact is, is that people throughout the city government, elected peoples, parents, teachers, folks have been working very hard to come out the other side of this. And there are going to be actionable (why do you shake your head at me?) I’m very proud of that work and I’m very optimistic that, and I won’t apologize for that optimism, very optimistic that we’re going to come out with actionable things that we need to be ready to do.
And if we don’t have sustainability, if we don’t have stability both in terms of our staffing and in terms of our fiscal base, we aren’t going to be ready to do those things.
It’s been noted that we have a big flood, you know, we are a city on a river, which means that our infrastructure needs are different and greater than many other cities that are not sitting on a river. We have a tremendous, and that’s a very important thing, our flood protection system. It is 100 years old. It has been maintained superbly over the years by a lot of hard work and ingenuity and discipline. And now, we are reaching the time where it is going to need to be upgraded and replaced.
And Director LaScalia and the city have been anticipating that and laying the groundwork to secure the funding for it. It’s going to involve city spending, it’s going to involve borrowing, it’s going to involve grants. All of these things depend on having a solid capital infrastructure base. So, these are a couple of things that mean we cannot drain the reserves. There’s no two-year gap that we can fill and then hope it comes, it’s better later.
So, thank you for indulging me. I know that was a lot of remarks. You know, we’ve all waited, we waited six months to talk more generally about this. I won’t be dissuaded from my optimism and faith in this community. I won’t be, I won’t… I regret that so many people we’ve heard from are anticipating having such a difficult time. I don’t doubt that there are going to be difficulties and challenges with what is coming for us, but I will not apologize for believing in you. I will not apologize for believing in you. I know we can do this work.
So, with all that said, I want to pass this budget. I hope we can do it tonight. We should not make… our whole city is waiting on us to pass this budget, not just the schools. Our whole city is waiting on us to pass this budget.
Garrick Perry, At-Large
June 20, 2024
Video Time Stamp: 3:39.53
I just wanted to first of all thank everybody involved in this budget, budget discussion,, but like, literally, all the community, all the everyone, this has been a journey and it’s a journey that we will continue to be on. I only have a couple things, but the first thing is I want to remind folks that the budget isn’t done by one person. You know, contrary to some assertions, there isn’t really like a tyrant making everyone do their bidding, you know, there are months of discussion, department heads, the city employees, the public, the counselors.”
And I bring that up because many of the people involved in this process are people who live here, people who, if they don’t live here, they work here or have worked here for years . . and they care deeply about success in our communities. So again, I want to center us on that community aspect because these are your neighbors, your coworkers, your friends, your customers.”
I also want to say that the people involved in this process are highly qualified, years of experience, various degrees . . . you know, I learned on my first term, we were able to take tours as city counselors in various departments that our mayor, Sciarra, set up. She began organizing these as a way not only to help with onboarding but also team building.
And for me, they were wonderful looks into the different worlds that help our city. One, the department heads give us examples of how our money is spent. They talk about things that they would do if they had more money. You know, these trips not only taught me kind of like how big and important this process is, but how many people are involved.”
I’ve been to every one of these tours, thankful, and I’ve seen almost every other councilor at these tours. One thing I will add after this discussion is that I would put the schools on those tours. I’ve had the pleasure of being a parent here, so I’ve seen the inside of a lot of schools. I’ve talked with some administrators. But that would be my one thing, but I say this because these tours gave me perspective.
You know, looking at the city and I told myself in all of my discussions, trying to listen to everyone, that I would try and support if there was a plan that I saw as a concrete start of stability and sort of solution, I would support that. I was hoping that I would see that. Recently, this week, I didn’t see much hard numbers talking about how to move forward, financially.
And that brings me to one of the reasons why I ran, because of my perspective, you know, I rent here. I’ve worked in the entertainment industry for decades. I work in the service industries, and when we’re talking about underestimating revenues, I want to kind of be here, sound an alarm that these industries, that we are facing, a lot of these numbers are still hurting.”
You know, the restaurants are, it’s hard to keep staffed. Our entertainment venues are not the same as it used to be. I don’t know who else has been in a dispensary, but the business isn’t there the way it used to be, and when people say the city is underestimating, my counter to that is, and for underestimating, seeing the revenue exceeds, my counter is that there’s been a lot of hard work with our city’s economic development team.
I’ve been there working with people, and the reason why we are sort of successful is because of that work. Things like Summer on Strong, Bands on Brewster, the things I pretty much try and tell you about. The reason why these industries are doing well is because the city is putting effort to try and hold up this industry, these industries that we rely on so much: hotels, motels, meals.
So, we are at a very difficult place. A lot of our restaurants are owned by more than one person, you know. We have a place if someone passes away or dies, we can lose two restaurants at a time. That’s revenue we lose. I had a constituent in Ward 3, calling me very concerned because there was a threat of being shut down, and he would lose three of his businesses in one building, which would be about 50 employees and hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax revenue get closed or, lose, um, you know, we might seem to be good, but we are not there yet.”
So, I just wanted to be there as the canary in the coal mine saying that I know that the city is doing the work to try and keep, keep those things, afloat. And the last thing I think I will say is that Councilor LaBarge mentioned this, but for everyone who didn’t feel comfortable coming into these spaces publicly and talking, you are still heard as well, the same way that everyone who spoke publicly was heard.”
But it does hurt my heart that there is currently this feeling that you can’t speak your mind, without being hissed at or ridiculed. It’s not something I want to teach anyone, not my kids. I don’t want to teach them to treat people like that. And so, I’m sorry that this process has been for me a little bit about dividing community. I always find it’s easy to, I don’t know, anger an audience or, you know, you can rile up a crowd. It’s hard to build and heal communities.
So, I’m hoping that, you know, I will continue to do the work that I do. I’ll be here in the community, but I find myself at this point where I see this budget before me as a way of people listening, trying to, you know, rectify some of our problems. We’re not solving them all, but we’re making a start. So, that’s how I am.