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Date: 5/18/2021
HOLYOKE – The Holyoke City Council discussed the city’s budget during a special meeting on May 12.
The meeting began with Acting Mayor Terrance Murphy saying it had been “an interesting” and “hectic” four weeks since he’d taken office. Murphy said he’d met with department heads to “try to find ways to improve services” and “tried to do the best I can” with regard to the city’s budget.
He said his “ultimate goal” with regard to the budget was to create “a budget that would provide stability.” Additionally, he said he tried to leave the budget for the incoming mayor to begin their term on “solid financial footing,” balance this year’s budget and to not leave the city in a deficit from the sewer fund which was currently impacting city services. Murphy said there were about $3 million in proposed cuts in the budget, with an increase of 2.4 percent from the fiscal year of 2021 to 2022
Councilor Mike Sullivan questioned an item in the budget that projected a drop in departmental revenue by about $1.4 million and asked for Murphy to elaborate on the dramatic change. Murphy said he also questioned some of the reductions, but said he would need to look up the answer as he did not have it immediately.
Councilor Joe McGivern questioned the money coming in from the federal government and if it was appropriated into the budget before them. Murphy said it had not been factored in. He added that he had recently attended a webinar and it was originally projected that the city would receive $29 million in relief, but now they knew they would be receiving $49,800,000.
“So we’re down a little bit over $2 million from what the congressman had indicated, from what the treasury department has listed for us,” he said. Murphy added while the money was supposed to be used similarly to Community Development Block Grants, they would also be able to use the funding for lost revenue.
Councilor Howard Greany asked if tax relief for residents and property owners would be part of the $49 million they were set to receive. Murphy said it was not, he said, “It was part of what I proposed, but it’s not part of that. From what I understand it can be for a variety of things, retirement accounts, relieving [and/or] borrowing debt, there’s a few other things.”
He continued, “I’m still learning what can be done.”
The council then passed the first reading of the budget and laid it on the table until meetings with the departments could be conducted.