Following debate, Haverhill’s City Council Tuesday night accepted Mayor Melinda E. Barrett’s $285.2 million spending plan for the year beginning July 1 which includes a property tax increase and water and sewer rate hikes
Several councilors, however, expressed displeasure by voting no, either because they thought the tax and fee hikes are too high or not enough money is being allocated to city schools. Ward 7 Councilor Catherine P. Rogers opened the discussion by reading a statement calling for more state support and less reliance on property taxes, saying she fears layoffs are likely in the city’s future.
“By fiscal year 2029, we will likely be facing two choices: Making significant cuts to city services or ask residents to approve an override simply to maintain current operations. The numbers show we are rapidly approaching a fiscal cliff,” Rogers argued.
Ward 5 Councilor Shaun P. Toohey agreed.
But Barrett defended her spending plan, saying she and her department heads sharpened their pencils and cut where they could. She also noted she imposed a spending freeze in January, anticipating tight times.
“We as a city are struggling with those same inflationary issues. But I just want to assure you that the men and women who work for this community are giving it their all. And they show up every day for the people of this community. We can’t always get to everything all at one because we are strapped. We have decades of kicking things down the road,” Barrett said.
When it came time to vote, councilors agreed to hold two votes—one for the school budget and one for the city budget at the request of Vice President John A. Michitson as his wife works for the school department. The final vote for the $137 million school package was 5-4 with two absences. Voting with the mayor were at-large Councilors Thomas J. Sullivan and Colin F. LePage, Ward 1 Councilor Ralph T. Basiliere, Ward 4 Councilor Melissa J. Lewandowski and Ward 6 Councilor Michael S. McGonagle. President Timothy J. Jordan was absent and Michitson had left the room. Voting in the negative were Ward 2 Councilor Daniel R. Diodati, Ward 3 Councilor Devan M. Ferreira, who previously pushed for another $1 million for the schools, Rogers and Toohey.
On the city budget, the vote was 7-3 with Michitson, Basiliere, Ferreira, Lewandowski, McGonagle, LePage and Sullivan voting in favor and Diodati, Toohey and Rogers voting against.
As WHAV previously reported, the budget representing a 2.9% increase over last year’s $277.1 million, and will raise taxes by $245 for the average home valued at $561,903, a 4.1% increase that is slightly lower than last year’s 4.6%. Of the $245 average residential property tax increase, employee benefits account for $90; public safety, $67; and schools, $58. She said added expenses include health insurance premiums and the city’s contribution to Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School. To balance her budget, Barrett is using $1.1 million of $1.5 million the city could have previously taxed under the state’s tax limiting law, Proposition 2 1/2, but did not. The state says “excess levy capacity is the difference between the amount of property taxes a community can levy in a fiscal year and what it actually chooses to levy in that year.”