NORTHAMPTON — The City Council Finance Committee passed a series of orders on Wednesday night that advanced Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra’s proposed $126 million fiscal 2023 budget for the full council’s consideration on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Councilors heard from public schools Superintendent John Provost and Police Chief Jody Kasper about the budget plans for their departments. On Tuesday night, the heads of Health and Human Services, Central Services and Public Works presented their budgets, along with Northampton Fire Rescue.
The $35.16 million school district budget represents a 5.07% increase over the current year, or about $1.7 million. The total incorporates about $2.3 million in COVID-19 relief money, reserving $1.7 million for future use.
The district would add a reading interventionist at Bridge Street School and an academic coach at JFK Middle School while cutting a first-grade teacher at Jackson Street School, a technology teacher at Northampton High School and four educational support professional jobs.
Last year, the district added 15 full-time positions, almost exclusively ESPs, to assist struggling students, Provost said. Three of those ESP jobs are slated for elimination, but some employees will be moved into other roles.
Ward 6 Councilor Marianne LaBarge asked Provost how the district plans to retain staff, citing concerns about low teacher pay.
“There has been a real, concerted effort to raise wages of Northampton school employees” over the last two contract negotiations, Provost said. “The goal in the last contract was to get our teachers to the median or above for our county and that goal was reached. The goal in this negotiation has been to push that a little bit farther.”
He added that retention “has actually been good,” citing a retention rate of 90% of licensed staff for 2022, higher than the state average of about 87%. Unlicensed staff, he said, have a higher turnover rate and the district is trying to “direct as much funding as possible” to those bargaining units.
Councilors, Sciarra and Provost all acknowledged that the significant use of one-time funds means that future school budget deficits are virtually assured.
“We’re going to be signing our own kids’ teachers’ pink slips in a few years if we continue on this course,” At-Large Councilor Marissa Elkins said. “It’s serious, the hole that we’re digging.”
Sciarra’s budget allocates $6.2 million to the Police Department, slightly lower than the current year due to a shift of in-house IT responsibilities to the IT Department, and represents no job cuts.
Chief Kasper said the budget contains “very few changes” from the current year. She then spoke of the ongoing damage to the department caused by the City Council’s 10% budget reduction in 2020; since then, 17 officers have left, she said, forcing others to work overtime routinely.
“I wish I could tell you all that the impact of that vote is lessening, that we’re nearing recovery. We are not,” Kasper said. “Since May 20, so that’s the last 11 days, we have had no officers available to respond to 53 calls for service.”
In 2021, officers handled 33,099 calls, arrested 416 people, issued 1,911 motor vehicle citations and processed 191 license to carry firearms applications, according to the budget proposal.
Asked by At-Large Councilor Jamila Gore about the potential impact of the Department of Community Care, which would take certain nonviolent calls instead of the police starting next year, Kasper said she is watching the situation with “curiosity and openness,” but that more resources are needed on the street right now.
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.