GREENFIELD — The mayor and finance director presented City Council’s Ways and Means Committee with a proposed fiscal year 2022 operating budget of almost $54.5 million on Thursday night, a 1.1 percent or $593,078 increase over this year.
The presentation is the kickoff to several Ways and Means Committee meetings that will examine the budget line by line and meet with department heads before the five-member committee makes its recommendation to the full council.
“This is the city’s budget,” said Mayor Roxann Wedegartner, who with her financial advisors makes the final adjustments to the budget before it is presented. “It’s created by department heads late in the previous year. They started work last November after we gave them their parameters.”
Wedegartner said there are fixed costs that can’t be controlled, including contract obligations like salaries.
“They were told no more than a 1 percent increase in their budgets (from this year),” she said. “This is a level-services budget.”
Wedegartner said most departments were able to stay within the 1 percent increase. Department heads followed the guidelines and put together “reasonable” budgets. She said 80 percent of the budget is salaries and benefits.
Finance Director Liz Gilman said the city first created a budget schedule according to the charter’s requirements, then it looked at revenues and expenditures. Revenues were down throughout the pandemic, she said. For instance, parking meter revenue was down by about $300,000, while parking tickets decreased by about $100,000.
Gilman said the “good news” is that cannabis revenue was at $208,425 for fiscal year 2021.
“Cannabis was our saving grace,” she said. “And, we expect that to increase.
“We did a good job, overall,” Gilman said of crafting the budget. “Some of the major drivers for increases next year are retirement, technology costs and health insurance.”
While Thursday night’s presentation was a “broad-stroke” one, as budget season proceeds, the Ways and Means Committee and eventually City Council will look more closely at each department and its line items. The committee will meet two to three times a week to get that done. The new budget will go into effect on July 1, the start of the new fiscal year.
Thirty-eight percent of the budget, or nearly $21.1 million, goes to schools: Greenfield School Department ($19.7 million); Franklin County Technical School ($1.3 million); and Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School ($36,800).
About 31 percent, or $16.8 million, goes to fixed costs: pension ($5.2 million), health insurance ($8 million), unemployment ($120,000), Workers’ Compensation ($387,046) and more.
Departments make up for just over 30 percent, or $16.5 million, of the budget: general government ($4.6 million), public safety ($7.3 million), public works ($2.9 million), human services ($877,019), culture and recreation ($847,767) and Franklin Regional Council of Governments ($92,554).
At-Large City Councilor Christine Forgey, who heads up the Ways and Means Committee, said she is “very impressed” with the work done by the mayor and her financial advisors. She said the committee will now turn its attention to individual departments as it proceeds.
The Ways and Means Committee will meet virtually next week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, all beginning at 5:30 p.m. For a link to the meetings, visit greenfield-ma.gov/calendar and find the individual links for each night within the calendar.
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.