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Date: 6/21/2021
EASTHAMPTON – The Easthampton City Council officially approved the final fiscal year 2022 (FY22) budget during a public hearing on June 16.
City Council Vice President and Chair of the Finance Committee Daniel Rist stated during the meeting that the total budget for FY22 is $45.9 million, which overall is a slight 1.8 percent increase from last year. According to City Council President Peg Conniff, however, individual sections of the budget were reduced in some capacity.
Because COVID-19 expenses are likely to offset the new growth in the next five years, Mayor Nicole LaChapelle asked department leaders to reduce their department budgets by 2.5 percent without eliminating positions, laying off or furloughing staff.
“There were some changes in the budget, mostly reductions,” said Rist, regarding the final City Council Finance Committee meeting prior to the public hearing. “There were some increases requested by the mayor for some of those unknowns that we found. But a lot of reductions lead to less money than we originally requested.”
According to Rist, the estimated revenues in Easthampton are usually very conservative, especially when it comes to new growth, which is estimated at $100,000 for this year. “That guarantees that we’re not overestimating revenue and then falling short at the end of the fiscal year,” said Rist. “Any excess revenue becomes free cash the following year…We’re very happy that our revenue for next year is conservative based on what we brought in this year. Our revenue this year seems to be in good shape.”
There were no significant increases in personnel or remarkable changes in the FY22 budget. All 10 sections of the budget were approved unanimously.