The City Council Finance Committee reviewed the city’s proposed fiscal year 2025 budget of $197,352,196, an increase of $10,135,620 from the FY24 budget.
Mayor Ted Bettencourt said the city received $4.6 million in net state aid last year, but will only receive $1.4 million this year, placing an “additional burden” on the city’s taxpayers.
The increase of the city side of the budget is $5.5 million, including an increase of $2.1 million for public-safety spending, more than $433,000 for facilities, more than $104,000 for school health, and more than $170,000 for information technology and cybersecurity.
The budget also includes a cost-of-living adjustment of $4.8 million covering city and school employees.
“I have always felt strongly that our hardworking municipal employees, who deliver the services that our residents and business owners expect, deserve a cost-of-living increase, particularly during these inflationary times,” Bettencourt said. “Our employees are the most important resource we have as a city.”
One source of budget revenue, the tax levy, is proposed to increase by more than $7.4 million, from $122,511,487 to $129,968,819. This includes an estimated average residential tax bill increase of $398 from FY24.
The motion to approve the proposed budget of $6,556,232 for general government passed by a vote of 10-1. Councilor-at-Large Anne Manning-Martin was the only one to vote against the motion.
The motion to approve the proposed budget for public safety passed unanimously.
The motion to approve the proposed budget of $13,557,834 for public services passed by a vote of 9-2. Councilor-at-Large Jon Turco and Manning-Martin voted against the motion and Councilor-at-Large Thomas Gould abstained.
The committee voted separately on the proposed operating budget for the Council on Aging. The motion to approve the budget of $1,797,243 passed unanimously by a vote of 10-0. Councilor-at-Large Ryan Melville recused himself from voting on the budget.
The committee also voted on the proposed enterprise budgets, including water and sewer and recreation enterprises. The motion to approve the recreational enterprise budget of $2,844,400 passed with a vote of 10-0.
During the meeting on Tuesday, Manning-Martin noted the city’s skating rink has been losing money for more than five years and motioned to eliminate the assistant skating rink manager.
She later withdrew her original motion and motioned to rescind and eliminate the head laborer skating position, valued at $51,439.83.
On the motion, Councilor-at-Large Thomas Rossignoll asked Rink Manager Paul LoGiudice if an assistant skating manager or a head laborer is more valuable to the rink.
LoGiudice said both the assistant manager and the head laborer positions are “critical in the skating world.”
Manning-Martin amended her motion to rescind and eliminate the head laborer skating position and reduce the skating rink’s budget by $50,000. The motion passed with a vote of 8-2.
The motion to approve the proposed skating rink budget then passed unanimously with a vote of 10-0.
The meeting adjourned and will continue on Thursday at 6 p.m., when the school side of the proposed FY25 budget will be discussed.
