Mayor Releases FY2024 Budget
On May 8, 2023, Mayor Sean Reardon released the Administration’s budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on July 1, 2023. To view the FY2024 budget proposal, please visit: https://www.cityofnewburyport.com/budget
This budget is built to a 2.3% increase in the property tax limit, based on the preference not encroach on the full 2.5% increase allowable by law. The general fund budget includes expenditures of over $82.8M and is balanced by over $14M in local receipts and $68.5M in tax levy. This budget devotes significant resources to our public schools, public safety, and the Department of Public Services, which are the main drivers of the budget every year. The Mayor is recommending investments in major capital projects through DPS in order to secure the City's infrastructure, including our water supply, and there are also two new positions that will help with this work. One is an assistant engineer, who will also bring additional capacity to the engineering department particularly for watershed protection and roadway design and construction projects. The other is a chemist/environmental analyst in the Water Treatment Plant.
The Mayor is also recommending initial investment in Information Technology and in the Planning Department. IT has not received adequate investments in recent years, and these new proposed investments include a major capital project to rebuild our data center, and operating budget expenses to improve our cybersecurity and digital operations. This work was recommended in the IT audit performed last year by an external agency, and has been spearheaded by IT Director, James Pope. The Planning Department is in need of additional capacity to lead on major zoning initiatives, as well as to implement the recommendations of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. The Mayor is recommending the addition of a Community and Economic Development Manager who will be able to drive this work with initiatives on branding and marketing, land use, small business assistance, and more.
The Capital Improvement Plan and Budget were submitted at the same time, thanks to Charter updates that were approved by the Governor last year. This will make it easier to consider both documents alongside each other, and to see how the capital requests drive our operating budget decisions.
The City Council has 45 days from the budget's submission to approve or make changes to the budget. The Council will hold workshops over the coming weeks to discuss the proposal with department heads and other City staff and make a determination on whether to cut any of the budget lines. The Council cannot add to the budget, only reduce amounts. The first workshop will be Thursday, May 10th, at which the Council will discuss the overall budget picture and general administration categories, including the Mayor’s Office. The workshop schedule can be found on the calendar widget on the page for the Committee on Budget and Finance, which is here: https://www.cityofnewburyport.com/budget-finance
Last, thanks to all the community members who submitted photos for the cover of the budget. We received so many photos, and it was very difficult to choose. The selected photos were taken by (from left to right, top to bottom): Bob Watts, Robin Field, Roxanne Cirelli, Susan Patten, Chris Emmonds, Abbie Cotter, Amy Conly, Peter Swift, and Kathy Pringle. Thanks to everyone!