Mayor Melinda E. Barrett’s budget for the year starting July 1 grapples with large costs like several labor contract settlements and the $152 million Dr. Albert B. Consentino School building project. The tight budget, which Haverhill city councilors still must approve, was drafted recognizing the impending end of federal American Rescue Plan Act money. City Chief Financial Officer and Auditor Angel A. Perkins was quick to point out at Tuesday night’s council meeting the city is not using the aid for any recurring expenses, rather it has bought $24 million in federal bonds, and is earning over $1 million on the investments each year. However, as required, the city will spend the money on one-time capital improvements by 2026 and can no longer rely on the revenue each year.
Shirley Lucille (Fitts) (Robinson) Osgood-Bailey, 95, of Plaistow, N.H., died on May 6. Born in Plaistow, N.H., on Sept. 14, 1928, she was the daughter of the late Vida Mary (Arnold) and Norris Leon Fitts. She was raised in Haverhill and graduated from Haverhill High School in 1946, attended Mount Ida Junior College and graduated with honors from Northern Essex Community College in 1983.
Haverhill firefighters were able to quickly knock down a fire Tuesday night at a two-family School Street home where a pet dog perished. Haverhill Fire Chief Robert M. O’Brien said firefighters were dispatched, beginning with Deputy Fire Chief Gregory R. Roberts and the crew of Water Street’s Engine 3, led by Lt. John Farrell, just before 8 p.m., to 39 School St. “They found heavy fire and smoke from the front, left side, first floor,” O’Brien told WHAV.
Haverhill’s Gabriella Garozzo, currently a junior at Babson College, won a scholarship for her accounting studies from the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants—or MassCPAs. Honored at a networking event last night, she was one of 51 students to receive the merit- and need-based Gregory T. O’Gorman CPA Memorial Scholarship. Awards from the organization range from $2,500 to $10,000, and it has issued over 400 since 2006, giving $1.9 million drawn from donations.