GREENFIELD — The city began its public phase of budget season on Wednesday, with City Council’s Ways and Means Committee commencing its discussion of Greenfield’s capital budget and the projects included in it.
Mayor Roxann Wedegartner said she began working with Finance Director Liz Gilman last November on both the capital and operating budgets for fiscal year 2022, which begins July 1.
“The timing of what we do is dictated by the city charter,” Wedegartner said. “Last year, (former Mayor) Bill (Martin) had already worked on the budget before I took office, so I didn’t deviate from it greatly, especially since the pandemic was raging during budget season.”
Wedgartner said because the city lost revenue during the pandemic, she had to do some recalculations later in the year and make some cuts.
The mayor said she created a “level-services” operating budget for fiscal year 2022 that represents a 1.1 percent increase over this year’s $53.9 million budget.
“I’ve been meeting with department heads since December,” she said. “They’ve been working on their budgets since late last year and about six weeks ago, I met with each of them separately, telling them to make their final additions or deletions before we met.”
Wedegartner said she told each department head to look at their bottom line and then present it to her.
“We don’t want to have a Proposition 2½ override for our operating budget,” she said. “We also had to decide what was an acceptable tax increase that would allow the city to do what it needs.”
Wedegartner said 80 percent of the city’s budget is salary and wages, and a “good chunk” of that is contractual, so that can’t be changed.
She said she directed Gilman to stay as close to a 1 percent increase as possible.
“There isn’t a lot of new staff included in next year’s budget,” she said. “We had some retirements, so departments filled the positions they needed to, but this budget is by no means extravagant.”
Wedegartner and Gilman will be discussing both the operating and capital budgets with the Ways and Means Committee over the next several weeks before the full City Council votes on them.
The capital budget, at $5 million, includes three- to five-year plans for projects, including upgrades and renovations at the Police Station, a new skate park and an upgrade of Sanderson Street.
“Overall, I wanted to make sure we maintained services,” Wedegartner said. “We’ll also be applying for grants and other ways to pay for things.”
She said the capital budget is for more long-term needs. While all of the projects that department heads proposed had merit, Wedegartner said she had to make some cuts.
The Ways and Means Committee met Wednesday evening to begin its discussion of the capital budget, with the Wedegartner and Gilman talking about the budget and capital improvements. That was followed by a virtual meeting Thursday, when the committee met with the heads of GCET, the Fire and Police departments, and the Recreation Department.
On Wednesday, April 14, at 7 p.m., the Ways and Means Committee will discuss the Department of Public Works’ capital budget and deliberate on the total fiscal year 2022 capital budget so it can send its recommendation to the full City Council for a vote later in the month.
The mayor will present her operating budget to City Council in mid-April. The city is still confirming dates for those discussions and deliberations. The full council will vote on the operating budget in May.
For more information about Greenfield’s budget process, visit bit.ly/3fQ02Ji.
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.