GREENFIELD — City Council has passed a $53.9 million operating budget for fiscal year 2021 — only $175 less than the mayor had proposed.
The new budget is a $2.6 million increase over the current fiscal year’s budget. It will go into effect on July 1, after this fiscal year ends on June 30, and was passed during a Webex conference call meeting Wednesday night.
Finance Director Liz Gilman said retirement and health insurance costs are major drivers in the budget, as are contractual increases. The tax rate will increase by 62 cents, to $23.55 per $1,000 valuation. She said 31 percent of the budget represents general government expenditures, while 39 percent represents education expenditures. The remaining 30 percent is department costs.
The total operating budget included a $7.3 million budget for public safety, a $20.9 million budget for education and a $2.5 million budget for public works, and councilors recognized the good work department heads are doing. The council — Precinct 8 City Councilor Douglas Mayo was not at the virtual meeting — approved almost all individual budgets unanimously and then did the same with the comprehensive budget.
Mayor Roxann Wedegartner told councilors the budget “was created before anyone ever heard of COVID-19,” starting under the previous administration. At that time, she said, it wasn’t understood what the impact on next fiscal year’s budget would be because the pandemic had not yet hit the country.
She said she and others were cognizant as the city started to bump the property tax levy ceiling, which caused them to be “very frugal” in putting the budget together.
“All department heads presented their budgets,” she said. “We had many conversations with department heads.”
The council’s Ways and Means Committee was then tasked with going over the budget for weeks line by line and presenting its recommendations to the full City Council. Council Vice President and Ways and Means Committee Chair Otis Wheeler presented individual budgets to the council for consideration, saying they all received positive recommendations from his subcommittee.
Wedegartner said it’s a “very difficult” time and the city will have to wait to see how the pandemic impacts the state’s budget and, by extension, the city’s budget.
“We may come back in the future,” Wedegartner said.
Instead of one part-time person being affected in the treasurer’s office, she said there could eventually be more layoffs and cuts, because it will all depend on funding.
Gilman said that during the first round of reductions, it was decided efficiencies could be found in the financial administration budget by cutting one part-time position.
“We had to work toward more efficiencies,” she said.
Wedegartner followed by saying, “We will make it work.”
Councilors said while they believe the mayor should receive a raise, it shouldn’t be more than the average increases other employees will receive next year. So, instead of a 5 percent raise, Wedegartner will receive a 4.5 percent raise. Her salary was reduced from $89,000 to $88,825.
When voting on the city’s miscellaneous budget, which includes line items for retirement benefits and health insurance, Precinct 1 City Councilor Edward Jarvis and At-Large City Councilor Christine Forgey both recused themselves because they are former city employees and receive those benefits. Jarvis was the city’s former deputy fire chief and Forgey was the city’s first mayor.
Forgey proposed an amendment to the budget early in the evening, asking that $43,995 be taken out of the budget by removing stipends for city councilors and School Committee members next year, but she and Precinct 2 City Councilor Dan Guin were the only “yes” votes on the matter. Other councilors said they didn’t want to take a yearly stipend of $2,000 a year from colleagues who may be struggling financially or from School Committee members with whom the issue had not been discussed.
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.