Mayor Mary Clare Higgins will hold a series of budget hearings before her proposal comes back before the council for a vote in late June.
Mary Clare HigginsNORTHAMPTON – Mayor Mary Clare Higgins delivered her 12th and final budget proposal to the City Council Thursday without any projected job cuts.
The $93.5 million spending plan for fiscal 2012 includes the $7.1 million Water Enterprise Fund, the $5.58 million Sewer Enterprise Fund and the $3.48 million Solid Waste Enterprise Fund. The General Fund portion totals $77.3 million.
In her budget message, Higgins told the council she was able to maintain the level of city services without job losses in part through the cooperation of city employees, who agreed to freeze their wages at 2011 levels. She also proposed an increase in parking ticket fines, a move she estimated would bring an additional $272,500 into the city coffers. She noted that she complied her budget in the face of continued cuts in state aid totally $2,787,220 over the last four years.
During her time as mayor, Higgins said, the cost of a gallon of gas has increased from $1.26 to $3.96.
“The economy went from the Dot-Com bubble to the post 9/11 recession and stock market decline, to the sub-prime mortgage crisis, corporate bailouts, and to the current stagnant economy,” she said.
Meanwhile, she added, the cost of healthcare has grown into a national crisis.
As she prepares to leave City Hall, Higgins said she is intent on stabilizing the city’s finances and has taken several measures to accomplish this. I the past, she has borrowed from the Free Cash and Stabilization accounts to help balance the budget, but this year there are such one-time revenues. Some departments regularly come before the council several times during the course of the year asking for transfers to certain funds, such as snow and ice, veterans services and overtime for firefighters. In fiscal 2012, Higgins said, she increased the funding for veterans benefits by $342,850 in an effort to stabilize that fund.
Her budget plan also supports the construction of a new Department of Public Works facility, half of which would be paid for out of the General Fund. The other half would be spilt between the water and sewer enterprise funds.
Higgins will hold a series of budget hearings before her proposal comes back before the council for a vote in late June. Ward 2 Councilor Paul D. Spector gave Higgins’ budgeting skills.
“Since 200, we’ve been looking at one hard year after another,” he said. “I think we’re doing remarkable well, and it’s a tribute to her and to the folks who run and work for the city. I’d give her an A plus.”