NORTHAMPTON — The City Council will hold two budget listening sessions this week for residents to voice their opinions on what the city should prioritize in its budget next fiscal year.
The meetings, to be held virtually over Zoom, will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, from 6-7:30 both nights. It is the second time the city has held the listening sessions, having done so for the first time in December of 2022.
“It has been said that a budget is not just a collection of numbers but an expression of a community’s values,” the city wrote in a flier promoting the event. “State law requires a balanced budget, but communities hold distinctive values and therefore have unique priorities for spending residents’ limited tax dollars.”
Comments for each individual will be limited to three minutes per person to ensure that all voices will be heard at the sessions. Those unable to attend in person may send comments via email to citycouncil@northamptonma.gov.
The listening sessions are for fiscal 2025 budget, which will take effect on July 1, 2024. The mayor creates the budget and presents it to the council for adoption within 45 days and before the end of the current fiscal year.
In the spirit of the holiday season, the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority is once again offering its services for free until the end of 2023.
Launched last Friday, fares and passes will not be needed to ride PVTA fixed route buses or vans. The purpose of the fare elimination is to encourage more people to try public transportation as a means of getting around, as well as supporting low-income individuals
Funding for the free transit comes from money distributed among the 15 regional transit authorities in Massachusetts, according to the Rail & Transit Division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The amount distributed to each transit authority is based on most recent fare data.
The PVTA is the most-used regional transit authority in the state, therefore receiving the largest chunk of money distributed for the free transit program. Last year, The PVTA received around $744,000 for the free transit program, with the second highest, the Worcester Regional Transit Authority, receiving around $405,000.
The exception to the free transit program is the B79 service, which runs between UMass Amherst and the MBTA station in Worcester.
Two commissions established by the city of Northampton are making a change in the number of people who sit on them, as part of a shakeup to ensure that they can establish a quorum and be lead by new additions to city departments.
The City Council at its Nov. 16 meeting passed administrative orders that reduced the number of people on the Human Rights Commission from nine to seven members, and added the current director of the city’s new Climate Action and Project Administration Department, Carole Collins, to chair its Energy and Sustainability Commission.
At the first reading of the orders on Nov. 2, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra said the reduction in the Human Rights Commission was necessary in order for it to maintain a quorum, which it has struggled to do in recent meetings.
“In my experience, maintaining large memberships of boards and commissions is a struggle,” Sciarra said. “Reducing the membership of the commission will reduce the quorum necessary to meet, and with two appointments the commission will be able to rejuvenate the important role that it plays in promoting human rights in the city of Northampton.”
Regarding the Energy and Sustainability Commission, Ward 5 councilor Alex Jarrett said that he generally was in favor of commission boards being able to elect their own chairs, but that he was happy to support Collins being added to that commission.
“I do prefer that commissions have a leeway to elect the best chair that they see fit, but if one is to be prescribed, uh prescribed I think the CAPA director is a good choice,” he said.
Alex MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.
