Budget Hearings Set To Get Underway on Monday

By Adam Swift

The City Council’s Ways and Means subcommittee will kick off its budget hearings on the Fiscal Year 2024 budget next Monday, June 12.

Acting Mayor Patrick Keefe is presenting a general operating fund budget of $226,522,721 for FY24. With the addition of the water/sewer and solid waste enterprise funds, the budget hits $262,131,833. The enterprise funds are self-sustaining funds that pay for the services with the money the departments bring in. Last year, the city council approved a budget of just over $240 million.

The school portion of the budget as proposed stands at just over $124 million.

The budget binders for the FY24 budget were distributed to the City Council prior to Monday night’s regular meeting.

“The budget will include a budget message from the Acting Mayor and a budget overview presentation that I will be prepared to deliver as part of the first Ways and Means Committee meeting scheduled by Councilor (Gerry) Visconti on Monday, June 12,” said Richard Viscay, the city’s finance director.

Viscay added that he plans to attend all scheduled Ways and Means committee meetings to answer any questions from the committee members or any other councillors.

Budget hearings in front of the Ways and Means committee are also scheduled for June 13 and 14, as well as June 21, if needed.

In other financial business at Monday night’s meeting, Viscay requested an appropriation of $515,757 to fund the deficit in the city’s ice and snow budget.

“While there was not much snow this winter, there were many weather days where the city must treat the streets with salt and sand to keep our streets as safe as possible,” said Viscay. “Also adding to some of the costs this fall and winter was the lack of a DPW facility, which forced the city to find alternative solutions for keeping our snow fighting equipment and water repair equipment stored in various locations throughout the city. These extraordinary measures were one-time expenses that we will avoid with the anticipated completion of the new DPW facility this fall.”