LYNN — The City Council voted to approve the $486,643,836 fiscal year 2024 budget Thursday evening.
This is the second time the council held a public hearing and vote on the budget, after it violated open meeting laws by not posting a public notice of the initial meeting on June 12.
Mayor Jared Nicholson was unable to attend the hearing due to a School Committee meeting the same night. He submitted a letter regarding the presented budget, which was read on his behalf.
“This budget allows us to maintain fiscal discipline while making key strategic investments in support of lasting positive improvements to benefit our residents,” Nicholson’s letter read. “Our operating budget continues to be tight, and we have made every effort to manage our resources efficiently.”
The FY24 budget contains an approximately $36 million increase from the FY23 budget, according to the budget submitted by Nicholson in May.
In FY24, the general government will receive $38,911,067; public safety will receive $47,167,544; education will receive $235,125,000; public service will receive $16,984,532; health and welfare will receive $1,108,621; culture and recreation will receive $1,742,076; non-departmental fees will be $56,356,327; indebtedness will be $9,086,853; and pension costs will be $38,032,315.
During the public hearing, an open letter stated that the police and fire departments will not receive enough funds in the FY24 budget.
At the end of May, the council held a budget hearing where it heard from department heads on each department’s budget.
At that hearing, Police Chief Chris Reddy said that in the FY24 budget for the Police Department, there is a decrease in funds for overtime pay. There is a possibility that this could present “challenges” for the department due to the “unpredictability” of events that officers need to respond to, he said.
In an interview Friday, Fire Chief Dan Sullivan said the Fire Department’s FY24 budget was level-funded.
“We’re still able to provide the services that we did last year,” Sullivan said. “We’re able to start to work towards some of my goals, which was better data collection, increased firefighter safety.”
At Thursday’s budget hearing, City Councilor-at-Large Nicole McClain said that in future budgets, there should be more funding to add personnel in most city departments.
“I’m hoping that we can fund these departments more adequately, especially the Veterans Department,” McClain said.
The budget was approved unanimously, with Ward 1 City Council Wayne Lozzi absent.
