ORDER-2018-166 : Joint Meeting of the Board of Aldermen and the School Committee to be held at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, May 7, 2018, in the Aldermanic Chamber, City Hall, Melrose, MA, on the Financial Condition of the City, revenue and expenditure forecasts, and other relevant information in preparation of the FY2019 Operating Budget

Transcript (~11 min @ 1:46)

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▶ 1:51 Michael P. Zwirko: Thank you. I will just read the order that is before us this evening. In accordance with the city charter article 6 finance and fiscal procedures section 6-2 annual budget policy I hereby call a joint meeting of the Board of Aldermen school committee and superintendent of schools to be held on Monday May 7th at 7 p.m. in the aldermanic chamber City Hall Melrose Massachusetts on the financial condition of the city revenue and expenditure forecasts and other relevant information in preparation for the fiscal year 2019 operating budget seeing that that's the only order on the agenda this evening I would ask that mayor inferno come before us so we can hear from her this evening another one of those deep breath

▶ 2:50 Gail Infurna: times good evening and dear members of the board of aldermen school committee and citizens of melrose i am honored to be here this evening to present my first budget as mayor during the development of this budget i looked at a number of actions so that i could send you a balanced budget for fiscal 2019 the fiscal 2019 budget I submit this evening results in the lowest increase in at least five years on both a dollar and a percentage basis here are a few facts about the budget through restructuring we have eliminated one position and unfortunately this budget does not add a much-needed school nurse nor does it address critical custodial needs in our municipal buildings including the library I am also pleased to say that in the past few months our negotiating team has settled the fire police superior officers DPW contracts and this budget includes the provisions for these contracts I am also pleased to report that we have been able to achieve minimal increases in our water and sewer rates for the second year in a row while maintaining fully funded reserves this budget also includes funding for several road projects and the implementation of the complete street program we have also increased police and fire overtime by $100,000 in order to bring them to the levels they need to run their department effectively this budget will also include $75,000 in fire turnout gear this equipment must be replaced every 10 years and it is now 10 years old previously we were able to use grant funds for this purchase but that grant money is no longer available we have maintained our commitment to put $50,000 in the stabilization fund and $50,000 to the OPEB trust fund to help us meet our future obligations we will use free cash to balance the 2018 snow budget so we will not be carrying a snow deficit into fiscal 2019 and we will also increase the snow budget for fiscal 2019 by $50,000 to more accurately reflect the cost of snow operations we were able to to do several things this year to keep the budget balanced here are some of the measures we took outside of the turnout gear and our road program unfortunately there is no capital investment in this budget we decided to avoid any new spending because of the circumstances that are before us overtime has been reduced at the Department of Public Works our payment to the vocational school is lower because fewer melrose students opted to go there and this year the gic health insurance rates were lower than expected which helped keep the budget in balance however we do expect a steeper increase in the next few years i have also eliminated health insurance benefits for the members of the board of alderman which is the change i have long advocated As in previous years, we have invested almost every available dollar in our schools. In addition to educational and academic support, this also includes health insurance and Medicare for school staff, utilities, the cost of maintaining school buildings, and other school costs. Although we are not able to fully fund the budget that was initially approved by the school committee, we have worked out a plan. this includes an additional $175,000 for our schools over and above what was originally planned for its part the school committee agreed to use revolving funds to close the funding gap nevertheless I want to be clear the school budget is not okay it does not add much needed positions and it eliminates or reduces purchases of supplies and textbooks textbooks throughout the system this budget is a short-term solution to a long-term problem while we have balanced the fiscal 2019 budget I want to make it clear that the inevitable path that we are on is a dangerous one as I've stated before we do not have a spending issue nor do we have a money management issue we have a revenue issue without additional tax revenues coming into the budget every year we will not be able to provide a level service budget for the city and the schools nor will we be able to provide to provide the needed level of services for a growing school population furthermore we cannot grow and improve the city including the schools with this budget I believe in keeping things simple so these are the facts our operations are very lean our city runs as efficiently as possible and enrollment in our schools is up dramatically and continues to grow especially in the elementary and high schools and therefore the cost of running the Melrose public schools is up that is simple math and over the past number of years we have benefited from from new construction that has helped increase the tax base but development is slowing down as most of the available properties have been developed the level of state aid we have received today is over 1 million dollars lower than it was 10 years ago while property values have never been higher in Melrose taxes are growing more slowly because of the cap imposed by Proposition two and a half as a result tax revenues are not keeping pace with the city's growth and demand for services revenues are not keeping up with costs and this has been the case for over 10 years now the fact is we need more money we need more money so that we can plan wisely for the future here are some of my concerns if we do not invest in our roads our water and sewer systems and our municipal buildings it costs us more in the long run right now our per pupil spending is the ninth lowest lowest in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that means we are failing to invest in our students and at the end the cost of that is much higher than the cost of neglecting our infrastructure doing nothing brings a cost of its own and that cost will fall on all of us once again let me put it simply if you ignore a warning light in your car the eventual costs of repairs will be higher than the trip to the mechanic to come check it out I'm here to tell you that that warning light is on it is my opinion that if the citizens of Melrose do not approve an override in the near future we will have to start making very painful cuts that will change the quality of life as we know it here in melrose we must increase our tax base so that we can maintain the fiscal stability of our city including our bond rating continue to keep our infrastructure and buildings in good repair and better prepare the students in the melrose public schools for its future the fiscal 2020 budget will be very different from this one how it will look depends on you my own vision which i hope you will share is a sustainable budget that allows us to fully fund the schools so the superintendent can offer salaries that will retain quality teachers hire additional teachers to reduce class sizes to meet the needs of the increasing population and to provide appropriate services for all students. It will provide our teachers with the resources they need, including continuing our excellent professional development program and the fully-fund, up-to-date learning materials, new books for our school libraries, and supplies for courses such as art and health. A sustainable school budget will allow the city to invest in itself to maintain the current level of services to improve services where possible and to continue planning for the city's future building needs this means that the city budget as a whole must be sustainable going forward so that we can fully fund the schools without reducing city services and the budget will become sustainable with an override over the coming months we will need to take this challenge on as a community we will need to work together to decide what our future will look like as we used to say back at the Lincoln School PTO together we can make a difference in closing I ask for your favorable action on the budget as I submit it this evening thank