During the Northampton candidate forums, some candidates asserted that Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra could put $2 million more into the Northampton Public Schools to hire more educators because the city ended the last fiscal year with a $6.5 million surplus. While that sounds like simple math, it’s very misleading.

Two million dollars for any new staff this year will cost more than $2 million in subsequent years because of contractual increases in salary and benefits. This is why we can’t responsibly add recurring expenses without first identifying sufficient recurring revenue. Skimming surplus money isn’t sufficient.

Is the city generating excess surplus? No. State finance experts recommend cities aim to generate surpluses that amount to between 5-7% of the city’s operating budget. ($6.5 million is just over 5%.) To try to cut it closer with overly optimistic budget estimates risks missing the target when anticipated revenue doesn’t materialize, going in the red and triggering deep cuts to balance the budget.

Surplus money cannot be spent until the state certifies it, at which point the money is deemed “free cash” that can be spent freely. However, the state strongly recommends not spending free cash on recurring expenses like staff salaries. Free cash is defined as “nonrecurring revenue” because surpluses are byproducts of unreliable fluctuating revenue streams like investments and cannabis taxes.

You may have heard arguments that the city “magically transforms” recurring revenue into “one-time funds” to deprive schools of money, but this is rooted in a misunderstanding of what recurring revenue is, which is defined by the state as money that “by its nature can be relied on, at some level, in future years.” Not all revenue is that reliable.

I am a public school parent who very much wants more funding for schools. But hiring school staff with unreliable revenue sources is what happened during the pandemic, causing disruption when the money ran out, and I don’t want that either.

Local democracy only works when elected officials provide constituents with accurate information. Candidates who don’t meet this standard don’t deserve your vote.

Jonathan Wynn

Northampton