Council Passes City Budget

By a vote of 7-2, the Everett City Council voted in the $218.96 million City Budget that will take effect starting on July 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.

The City Budget, including the Everett Public Schools budget, has been debated and reviewed in three public meetings over the last week, but did not get unanimous support from the entire Council. Councilors Jimmy Tri Le and Stephanie Martins were not present for the Budget votes.

Both Councilors Fred Capone and Gerly Adrien voted against the City Budget, and both gave their reasoning that the Budget was not complete and didn’t focus on the right priorities. Both are also running for mayor against incumbent Carlo DeMaria.

Capone said he could not vote for the operating budget this year because none of his cuts were approved. “As the case has been every other year, many of my proposed budget cuts failed to pass,” said Capone after the meeting. “I couldn’t vote for the operational budget in good conscience for that reason. Councilor Gerly Adrien said she held several information sessions with residents about the City Budget, and felt it didn’t have the proper priorities for the residents of Everett and was not equitable. “After much engagement and discussions with Everett residents, I will be voting ‘no’ on Mayor DeMaria’s proposed budget for the city because it is not equitable,” she said. After many hours and meetings on the Budget over the past weeks, no other councilors had any comments ahead of the vote. Mayor Carlo DeMaria said he was glad to get the majority support of the Council, noting that he believes it is fiscally responsible and serves the community. “I’m thankful for the support of the Everett City Council in passing the FY22 budget,” said Mayor DeMaria. “The Administration had worked tirelessly to ensure that the budget would not only be fiscally responsible, but also best serve our community. We appreciate the Council’s support and anticipate a productive year.” Meanwhile, three other spending measures were also approved on Monday night, with only Adrien voting against all four Budget spending items. Capone only voted ‘no’ on the main City Budget proposal. The Council voted 8-1 to approve the $21.09 million Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), and the $21.03 million Water & Sewer Enterprise Budget. Finally, the Council approved by a vote of 8-1 the ECTV budget of $583,987.

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