Haverhill

Haverhill Councilors Vote Down $1M More in School Spending

By |

The Haverhill City Council voted 8-1 Monday night to reject a Haverhill School Committee recommendation to add $1 million to next year’s school budget. Ward 1 Councilor Ralph T. Basiliere praised the city’s original spending plan that avoids staff layoffs, pays down the city’s debt and maintains the city’s AA bond rating. He ticked off a summary of reasons he and a majority of his colleagues believes the city needs to tighten its belt.

“The bad news is I am hearing about a 9% decrease in receipts, challenges with the (fire department’s) SAFER grant, a shortage of free cash goals, higher inflation, a whopping snow and ice deficit. Of course, we had a mill fire that’s costing us to the tune of about $5 million and dwindling free cash,” Basiliere said. Ward 3 Councilor Devan M. Ferreira was the sole vote in favor of additional money for the schools in the budget for the year beginning July 1.

Haverhill

Haverhill Council Signs Off on $1.8M East Broadway Purchase

By |

After more than 20 years of talk, Haverhill city councilors voted unanimously Tuesday to spend $1.8 million to buy an East Broadway home and land to site a supplemental drinking water well. City officials long ago eyed the 7.4-acre parcel at 309 E. Broadway after tests showed it is for siting a unique radial collector well to draw water from an aquifer under the Merrimack River. The plan proved controversial when owner Joyce E. Hill and the city could not come to terms.

Ward 5 Councilor Shaun P. Toohey praised city officials and its legal team for finally getting the project over the finish line. “We’re solving the major problem in this community and, in my opinion, it is the right decision. It’s a great investment and I think you guys did a terrific job making it happen,” Toohey said.

Education

Podcast: Haverhill Schools Win National Recognition for Faster Progress

By |

Haverhill Public Schools recently won national recognition as one of 192 districts in 38 states whose students have improved significantly faster in math than peer schools. The award called “Districts on the Rise” is a collaboration of the Harvard University Center for Education Policy Research and the Stanford University Educational Opportunity Project along with faculty at Dartmouth College. Haverhill School Superintendent Margaret Marotta talked recently about the honor on WHAV’s “Win for Breakfast” program. She explained how the Education Scorecard is computed. “They take every school district across the country, all public school districts, and they look at their test scores, they look at their NAEP, the National Educational Progress Assessment, and they look at your standardized test scores and your attendance scores,” Marotta explained.

Haverhill

Haverhill Maintains Round-the-Clock Presence at Mill Demolition

By |

Demolition of the fire-ravaged Stevens Street mill complex is well underway

NorthStar Contracting Group of Everett began taking down the buildings last Thursday after the state Department of Environmental Protection issued necessary permits for the site adjacent Little River in Haverhill. Speaking on WHAV, Haverhill Fire Chief Christopher Cesati explained the city has not been able to open the street because of the potential an unstable section of the mill’s wall will give way. “We have not been able to just because of the structural integrity of that four-story mill section that runs parallels Stevens Street. There’s debris falling off of it daily. On the side of safety, we don’t want that to come down on someone,” Cesati explained.

Haverhill

Haverhill to Consider E. Broadway Taking, Status of Water Main-Damaged Home

By |

The Haverhill City Council votes Tuesday on whether to approve a revised agreement to buy all 7.4 acres of land at 390 E. Broadway for a supplemental drinking water well. As WHAV reported two weeks ago, the city reached agreement with owner Joyce E. Hill to buy her entire site for $1.8 million, rather than only a portion for $900,000. The city has been eyeing the property for more than a decade because tests show it is geologically the best location for a unique radial collector riverbank well to draw water from an aquifer under the Merrimack River. The initiative has taken on more urgency due to drought conditions that have gripped the northeast for more than two years. Initially, Haverhill Public Works Director Robert E. Ward proposed the partial purchase and take the money from water department reserves, but Hill balked and won support from several city councilors.

Education

Haverhill’s Gateway Academy Unveils Gardens, Greenhouse

By |

(Additional photograph below.)

Students at Haverhill’s Gateway Academy celebrated a year of hard work Friday with the formal opening of their Gateway Academy Greenhouse and Gardens. Gateway Academy Principal Brian Edmunds praised the many benefits of the project during a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “This space is a living testament to what happens when a community believes in its young people,” he said. Edmunds surveyed the 15 raised beds where young broccoli, snap peas, carrots, peppers and basil are poking through the soil. The cherry tomato plants are already setting tiny fruit and the herbs like sage and basil are ready to be picked.

Haverhill

Public Meetings This Week: Haverhill Nonprofits to Learn Federal Grant Amounts

By |

The public has opportunities to shape policy this week as various Haverhill boards meet. In the interest of transparency in government, WHAV provides this list of upcoming meetings every week on air and online. A decision on which local nonprofit agencies will receive a portion of Haverhill’s Community Development Block Grant money and how much will be made this week. Community Development Division Director Andrew K. Herlihy told WHAV he expects the city will receive about the same amount of federal money as last year, $917,780. Part of the total is set aside for nonprofits to serve low-income residents.

Education

Updated: Haverhill School Committee Presses for $1M Spending Increase

By |

Clarification and correction: Dues to a confluence of circumstances, it may be possible the School Committee and City Council can act without the mayor’s consent on adding $1 million to city spending. According to city code, Haverhill accepted in 1989 a state law that allows increasing city spending without the mayor’s consent if 1) the School Committee recommends the hike, 2) two-thirds of the City Council (today, eight of 11 councilors) agrees and 3) the city has the ability to go back and take amounts it did not previously tax to maximum limits. An analysis by City Auditor Angel A. Perkins suggests the city has the ability to tax properties more without exceeding the cap set in the state’s property tax-limiting law, Proposition 2 ½. As WHAV previously reported, the mayor’s proposed spending plan was already built on the assumption, the city will take about $1 million of the $1.5 million in so-called “excess levy capacity.” Since the budget has not yet been accepted by city councilors, it is unclear if the city would have to cut an additional $500,000 from city spending and still raise taxes if councilors agree with the School Committee. This is a developing story.