City Council Continues Meeting on Budget

By Joseph Domelowicz Jr.

The Everett City Council last week continued its public hearings on the individual parts of Mayor Carlo DeMaria’s $205,569,572 annual budget for fiscal year 2017, which includes water and sewer expenditures and the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).

According to the Clerk’s office this week, the Council Committee on the Budget met on May 19 and May 24 to review 18 department budgets and met last night, Tuesday, May 31 to review the Water and Sewer Enterprise Funds and CIP.

On Monday, May 6, the Committee on Budget, a committee of the whole Council, will hold public hearings on the Water & Sewer Enterprise and CIP budgets beginning at 7 p.m.

On Thursday, June 2, (tomorrow evening) starting at 6, the Council Committee on Budget will meet with department heads from Library, Human Services, Human Resources, Purchasing, Veterans, IT and Communications. A final discussion of the budget committee will take place commencing at 7 p.m.

City Clerk Michael Matarzzo said the Council will take up the budget for a vote on Monday, June 13, 2017 beginning at 7 p.m.

The proposed $2.055 budget for FY ’17 is a nearly $8.5 million increase from the current FY’16 budget of roughly $197 million with about half of the budget funded through local taxes. The remaining revenues are other local sources, from state and federal sources and from bonding in the case of some items on the CIP.

The city’ estimated tax levy limit for FY 2017 will be $104,031,376, but the Mayor’s proposed budget only calls for $98,197,960 to be raised through the tax levy for the purposes of budgeting. An additional $9,565,000 will be raised through local receipts for permits and fees, $72,705,663 will come from state aid. $1,882,459 is from school building assistance, $17,218,038 will be raised through water and sewer fees to support the Water & Sewer Enterprise fund and roughly $6 million will be from other varied sources, including grants and possible borrowing.

Of the $205 million proposed for the FY ’17 budget, just $51,745,097 will go to fund general government expenses, with another $29,262,131 for public safety, $10,741,756 for city services and just over $5 million combined for human services, libraries and recreation.

The city’s budget for education will amount to $90,467,899, with additional fixed costs across all department also comprising a sizeable portion of the budget at $48,459,219.

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