The mayor is claiming that if the override does not pass he will have to cut the budgets for the police and fire departments, schools, libraries and more.

This is straight out of the playbook on how to pass an override — threaten to get rid of the very things that people worry about most.

Why not look at other options to control the budget?

How about the costs of the 26 new vehicles that were bought in the past 14 months for the Department of Public Works and its divisions? Plus the other 35 vehicles that were bought from 2016-2018 for that same department and divisions? The total costs for the number of new vehicles for the DPW is easily at $6 million for the past four years.

Why does the DPW director and assistant directors all have assigned vehicles that they are allowed to take home every day? Surely, they can afford their own private vehicles to get back and forth to work as most of us do, especially at their salaries.

Not all of the vehicle purchases came out of the general fund. Some came from “service fees” from some of the divisions. That means those fees go up too to cover those expenses.

The city is still getting the taxpayers money. They are just taking it from different pockets.

This does not take into account the new vehicles bought for the police, fire and school departments over those same four years.

The city of Northampton is becoming a “financially gated” community, as most median-income families cannot afford to buy a home here or even afford to keep the one they might have inherited.

I have seen a lot of apartment houses with signs in favor of the override, yet just a few weeks ago this very newspaper had a whole article on the cost of housing and rentals in Northampton and how many can’t afford to live here.

Don’t renters realize that when the costs go up for their landlords, the rent goes up accordingly?

The mayor needs to learn to say “no” to extraneous expenses for the city. Keep Northampton affordable for all who live here.

I urge my fellow citizens to vote “no” on the override.

Philip H. Brocklesby

Northampton