LYNN — The City Council is preparing to review Mayor Jared Nicholson’s $448.1 million budget for the 2023 fiscal year.
The Budget Subcommittee of the City Council heard from the city’s department heads Tuesday about their budgets for FY23. The council set down a public hearing on the Mayor’s budget for Tuesday, June 14, and the councilors anticipate taking a vote the same day, said Brian LaPierre, subcommittee chair.
“I am pleased to present the City Council a balanced budget that is reflective of the city’s current financial condition. The good news is that the hard work that has been done to stabilize the City’s finances is paying off,” said Nicholson.
Lynn received the second debt-rating upgrade in less than a year as a result of sound budgeting practices that continue with the FY23 budget, said Nicholson. Due to an influx of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), long unaddressed capital needs will start to receive more attention, he said.
At the same time, the city is facing a limited revenue increase this year, according to Nicholson, which means it cannot hire as many people as the administration would like to.
“After contractual increases and accounting for expected price inflation, we actually had to cut the operating budget during the drafting process to bring it in line with expected revenues,” Nicholson said.
Although the FY23 budget does not contain a large number of new programs due to fiscal discipline required to ensure further financial stability, the city will continue to invest in critical initiatives, such as the new senior center and the ongoing efforts to develop an unarmed crisis response team (ALERT).
Total expenditure for the FY23 amount to $448,097,935 and include the School Department direct appropriation of $207.3 million — $89.3 million for pensions and benefits, $45.4 million for public safety, $37.8 million of state offsets, $37.4 million for general government, $14.8 million for the Department of Public Works, $8.2 million for debt service, and $1.5 million for the planning department, library, and culture.
The public schools’ proposed budget contributed the most to the increase of the overall FY23 budget. The FY23 schools budget amounts to $207.3 million which is higher than FY22 by $26.6 million or 14.7 percent.
In terms of the school department revenue, currently, the Massachusetts Senate budget proposes $241 million for Chapter 70 funding for Lynn schools, which is $28 million higher than the funding dedicated in FY22, according to Sen. Brendan Crighton’s office.
“This is a historic increase and it is a part of the Student Opportunity Act, the law that reconfigures funding formulas to address decades-old issues in districts like ours” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Tutwiler.
The year of 2023 is the second year of a seven-year state commitment.
What is proposed in the Lynn Public Schools budget reflects concerns and wishes of the community, Tutwiler said, including increased access to mental health supports for all students; more personalized support for students with disabilities; maintaining or reducing class sizes, where possible; increased access to the arts; and access to a new early college program in the state of Massachusetts.
The district will hire 200 new staff members, and each school will have an increased purchasing power for supplies and books, Tutwiler said. There are currently almost 16,800 students enrolled in Lynn schools, which equates to pre-pandemic levels after a dip in enrollment last year.
Nicholson’s budget recommends a $23 million FY23 budget for the police department, which is more than $1 million higher than last year. Lynn Police Chief Christopher Reddy said that increase in funding would help the department hire more officers to fill vacancies due to retirements and retention issues in recent years.
“As the city continues to grow in population, so do the demands for service that we provide to the members of the community,” said Reddy.
The department is looking to add patrol officers, members of the special units, school resource officers, and administrative personnel to support the body camera program, which was quite successful, Reddy said.
The Lynn Fire Department’s budget will remain almost the same in FY23 – $20.73 million vs. $20.86 million in FY22.
“It is a tight budget,” said Fire Chief Stephen Archer. “But we understand the constraints of the city.”
He said that the increase in overtime and sick time due to COVID-19 previously drove the department’s expenses, but things seem to stabilize and he was confident in his budget projection.
Other budget lines that contributed to the higher FY23 budget are inspectional services due to higher maintenance of schools, pensions and indebtedness.
The Mayor’s budget proposes a $4.9 million capital spending, including spending of almost $4.1 million of ARPA funds on two pumper trucks for the Fire Department, pavement of streets and sidewalks, heavy equipment for the Department of Public Works for snow, parks and road improvements, and a health equipment van for the Inspectional Services.
In FY22, Lynn received $24.6 million in unrestricted general government aid. It is planned in the proposed FY23 Senate budget that Lynn will receive more than $25.9 million in unrestricted general government aid, according to Sen. Brendan Crighton’s office.
Alena Kuzub can be reached at [email protected].
