With an expected $5.9 million shortfall to overcome in the coming fiscal year, Somerville city councilors know their wish lists for the city might not happen. But they were largely united on the contents of the wish list at a Tuesday meeting of the Finance Committee.
The shared themes were “really striking,” said councilor Ben Ewen-Campen, imagining a word cloud made from the memos that had been filed. (He posted that word cloud on Wednesday to social media. The word “housing” is most prominent, followed closely by “community,” then by “affordable,” “public” and “schools.”)
The mayor is “going to have to make some difficult choices,” councilor JT Scott said. But at least in gathering the memos – an innovation by the previous administration of Katjana Ballantyne – and meeting with each councilor, mayor Jake Wilson is able to identify common ground to keep in mind as the executive branch shapes budget line items.
All eight submitted memos call for continued investment in housing, with seven explicitly supporting an Office of Housing Stability, Scott said. At least six emphasize safe streets and maintenance of the public way, and funding for the Office of Immigrant Affairs and support for the city’s immigrant population. At least four explicitly support the expansion of out-of-school time programs and more free spaces for community engagement. There were three calls for an explicitly nonpolice alternative emergency response.
“And I’d say, add me to that list as well,” Scott said. “The thing they all have common is about showing up for our neighbors and basic delivery of services to city residents,” and it was clear what was not wanted: inefficiencies created by departments leaning on overtime, outsourcing and consultants, short on staff who got their hands dirty from an “explosion of middle management in the city since 2009 that has been extraordinary.”
While some police overtime drew a defense from committee chair Ben Wheeler, who noted staffing was short around 10 officer based on budget targets, he and councilor Jon Link were aligned with Scott around budget issues attributable to “management issues more than funding issues.”
Another source of budget shortfall that came in for criticism: the vindictive policies of president Donald Trump.
“This is looking like a very tough year, and for the last several years it’s specifically because the president of the United States is flying the economy into a mountain and attacking states and cities that disagree with him politically,” Ewen-Campen said. “It’s blowing a hole in budgets across the country, including ours, and it’s horrifying.”
Priorities, not “deprioritization”
In general, councilors resisted suggesting budget areas to cut – some shied away from the word “cuts” in favor of “deprioritization” – and councilor Matthew McLaughlin explained that the references were needlessly “controversial, and I don’t want to scare departments and get people worried.” That made Will Mbah an exception in calling for an assessment of whether some Covid-era programs had outlasted their need along with their federal grant funding. “Many programs were created during the pandemic to create social cohesion and community. We can reevaluate those programs,” Mbah said.
Councilors also hoped to see follow-through on neglected laws, with Scott, Mbah and others noting the city’s failure to enforce a 2019 vacant properties ordinance to try to fill empty storefronts. A rental registry would help get communications to residents instead of their landlords in a city that’s two-thirds renter-occupied – “in my district, it’s 80-plus percent,” said Scott of Ward 2.
“We all eagerly await the administration’s plan for reorganization and reinvestment, but it is not a stretch to say that though this is a penny-pinching moment, putting a few more dimes in those directions can have a real outsized impact,” Scott said.
Here are some additional priorities identified by councilors. They have been edited and condensed.
Jesse Clingan: “I only put in one priority – it’s the same one I put in last year. The amount of money we budget covers repaving roughly 1 percent of the roads each year. Simply, I’ve asked that we increase the budget to where we could pave 2 percent.”
Ewen-Campen: “Gilman Square activation. We have this beautiful city-owned lot that has been sitting vacant for many years.”
Emily Hardt: “The attack on immigrants is having devastating consequences for so many people. The Somerville office of Immigrant Affairs is doing excellent work, but the need is far outpacing the capability. I’ve been told demand for interpretation and translation has quadrupled over the past couple of years – and now they are dismantling federal language access programs. An additional $100,000 at Greater Boston Legal Services could hire a paralegal dedicated to Somerville and greatly increase the number of cases they are able to take on.
“Given that we’re still facing situations that are putting families at risk for food access, I would propose that we continue programs with partners like Food For Free, where with just over $100,000 we can continue school-based markets and Carrot Cards allowing families access to healthy, fresh food. Also, Ward 7 is farthest from the T and has a lot of seniors at that far western edge; the senior taxi program is really important.”
Link: “People are scared about whether they can stay in their homes and want stronger eviction protection, tenant support and investment in permanent affordable housing before we lose more of it. Parents want robust special education services and safe routes to get to schools, they want to be able to walk and bike around the city without feeling like they’re risking their lives or breaking a hip on cracked sidewalks and dangerous intersections. Make sure that arts and culture are still funded. I’ve heard the idea that ‘Somerville’s a bedroom community,’ but there are cheaper towns to sleep in. People are here because of a passion and creativity.”
McLaughlin: “Probably for about six years now I’ve been requesting an air filtration pilot program to supply houses close to Interstate 93, McGrath Highway.”
Naima Sait: “A study that will create a 10-year comprehensive plan for the decarbonization of building systems and improvement of building envelope performance. Funding to develop a swing swing space plan for some of the public schools, funding for staffing and programming to activate the high school as a youth center, plus a space for family engagement outside of school hours, and finally, as the owner of the Armory building, the city must repair the leaking roof.”
Kristen Strezo: “While we’re all twiddling our thumbs and waiting for the 1895 building next door to open, which isn’t going to happen anytime soon, can we have quiet work pods in City Hall so employees can have a second to talk with constituents in privacy? I’m resubmitting to introduce a low-income and first-generation path to homeownership. I also am resubmitting for a senior advocate liaison position.”
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