HOLYOKE — Mayor Joshua A. Garcia seeks an additional $2,171,406 to run the city this fiscal year. His proposed supplemental budget goes Tuesday to the City Council for approval.
According to Garcia, when Holyoke sets its budget July 1, “it’s a guess on what the city might need.”
If approved, the mayor’s supplemental budget will increase services in the Department of Public Works, Board of Health and Police Department. It will also cover shortfalls, honor newly negotiated union contracts and provide funding for a public safety plan.
Increases include a negotiated contract with the local firefighters union for $723,005, and a $1.5 million increase for sewer operations.
The main reason for the $1.5 million increase is because the city has not raised enough money in sewer fees to cover costs after the City Council set the sewer rate. This resulted in the need to raise taxes to cover the gap, Garcia told The Republican.
This can change if the City Council votes on an appropriate sewer rate before setting the tax rate by the end of calendar year, he said.
Instead of line-item transfers, this year the supplemental budget adds, subtracts and reallocates funds to get city finances as close to the original target as possible before council sets the tax rate in December, Garcia said.
Safety plan
Part of the supplemental budget will cover Holyoke’s newly launched approach to public safety.
The plan includes funding to create a community response team with two outreach case managers and a homeless liaison, in addition to adding foot and bike patrol officers.
Operation Safe Streets is also known as Ezekiel’s Plan, named after an unborn child who died Oct. 4 after a stray bullet struck him and his mother while she was on a public bus coming through the intersection of Sargent and Maple streets.
Funding from American Rescue Plan Act will be included in the supplemental budget to support Ezekiel’s Plan.
According to Garcia, updated figures in the supplemental budget are based on current revenue, expense projections. No Proposition 2½ override is involved and the plan does not reduce services.
Changes reflected in the supplemental budget can be found on the city’s website.