HOLYOKE — Mayor Joshua Garcia has put forward a supplemental budget for this fiscal year that, if passed, will allow the city to spend an additional $787,908 while still maintaining a roughly $1.1 million surplus.
In a statement Wednesday, Garcia said that the updated budget is based on revenue figures from the state Senate’s preliminary budget proposal, which was only voted on Monday. The supplemental budget does not propose any tax increase or reduction in services, just like Garcia’s $154 million balanced budget that the City Council approved last month.
In his original proposed city budget submitted in June 2022, Garcia said “we exercised fiscal restraint to preserve gains so we can better mitigate potential shortfalls and continue to improve our management of capital needs.”
“This proposed supplemental budget helps us to achieve these goals,” Garcia said in a statement.
The proposed supplemental budget includes $364,200 to close the budget shortfall of the city’s share for early retirement incentive and another $48,000 to close a shortfall in the city’s liability and damage insurance.
The budget would also create several new city positions and boost pay for some existing jobs. Among the new positions would be a civilian grant manager position at the Police Department to “free up the officer who has been managing those grants,” Garcia said, and a new $60,000 “sealer of weights and measures” position in the Building Department.
Garcia said that he also has eliminated a tree climber position for the city’s tree warden, citing a disagreement with the union that would represent that position over the position’s salary. Instead, Garcia said he has proposed increasing by $55,000 a line item for contracting that work out.
Among other proposals are a $16,000 increase to the Department of Public Works superintendent position to attract qualified interim candidates, recently negotiated wage increases for DPW and other unionized city laborers and a 2% increase in non-union salaries.
At a City Council meeting Tuesday, councilors sent the supplemental budget to the body’s Finance Committee, where it will get a hearing. City councilors will then have the ability to make line-item cuts, if they want, before taking a vote on the proposal.
In his statement, Garcia said that the city will know more about its revenue capacity and needs near the end of the calendar year when the City Council sets the tax rate.
“I look forward to revisiting the budget to make the necessary changes where feasible,” Garcia said. “This means we need to work together to watch trends in the budget and shift focus where we need to so that we are keeping up with our obligations while ensuring fiduciary responsibility to our citizens.”
As Holyoke prepares to distribute its second round of federal coronavirus relief funds, city officials are looking for community input on how to spend the millions of dollars.
In total, the city has received more than $40 million in American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, funds, as well as other state and local recovery resources. In September of last year, then acting mayor Terence Murphy dolled out $14.9 million of that money on significant investments in water infrastructure, municipal building improvements, housing and other initiatives.
The city is now preparing to distribute the second round of those funds and is seeking to understand city residents’ needs with an online survey.
The Office for Community Development will be conducting the survey, which will be available from July 1 through Aug. 16. An English-language version can be found at https://forms.gle/Qg4nifirkTF1HEU38 and a Spanish-language version at https://forms.gle/P2W5kaW5vBWJ1j2R7. A paper copy can be found on the city’s website or by calling 413-322-5610.
Those who take the survey will be entered into a random drawing to win lunch with Mayor Joshua Garcia or a $200 gift card.
A city man has been sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine base and cocaine.
In a statement, the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont said that Holyoke resident Daeshawn Jones, 21, was sentenced on July 12 to 47 months in prison in connection with his travels between Holyoke and Manchester, Vermont, to sell drugs in 2020.
Several others connected to the operation have already been convicted and sentenced on drug trafficking and gun charges.
“We are working with law enforcement at all levels to remove dangerous, illegal guns and drugs from the street,” U.S. Attorney Nikolas Kerest said in a statement. “We will use every tool available to eradicate the drug-fueled violence affecting our community.”
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.