EASTHAMPTON — “Extreme financial hardship” related to COVID-19 is the guiding force behind shaping the city’s new budget, said Mayor Nicole LaChapelle.
She is preparing to present the 12-month budget to City Council Wednesday evening, and while it will be lean, it will include no layoffs in the next fiscal year.
LaChapelle said lower revenue from meals tax and marijuana is being projected as a result of the pandemic, and the city’s auditor has been using the revenue numbers from the 2008 recession as a guide.
“We’re projecting revenues as if we’re in the middle of the recession right now,” said LaChapelle.
However, she also said that the city should gird itself for things to get worse.
The hiring freeze currently in effect for the city will continue in the new plan; as such, the city has put on hold its search for a permanent Department of Public Works director.
Fiscal year 2021 will begin in July, and the mayor said that some departments will be taking a serious hit in the new budget. She specifically noted the Police Department and the Parks, Recreation and Cemeteries Department, both of which will see cuts in overtime and positions unfilled.
The mayor said she is hoping to restore department budgets to fiscal year 2020 levels in 18 to 24 months and that the budget will be brought back to the council in the fall so that it can be evaluated again; it will also be adjusted and examined on a monthly basis before that time.
LaChapelle has discussed her budget proposal with City Council President Peg Conniff.
“I expect that it’s going to be very conservative,” said Conniff.
After the mayor presents the budget at the council’s Wednesday meeting, which will start at 6 p.m. and be conducted over the videoconferencing application Zoom, it will be referred to the council’s finance committee.
The finance committee will then meet twice next week and twice the week after to speak with department heads about the budget, Conniff said.
She noted that while the budget is typically approved in the council’s only June meeting, a second June meeting may also be scheduled.
While the city has the ability to deficit spend to combat the financial effects of the pandemic, so far it has not done so, and the budget the mayor is drawing up doesn’t include deficit spending.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.