Newton’s Comptroller, Stephen Curley, has reported that on September 25 the Massachusetts Department of Revenue certified the amount of the City of Newton’s Free Cash — the amount of unrestricted funds available from operations in the previous year – to be $27,912,423. In late August, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller had announced that the…
Posts published in “Budgets”
The Mayor’s proposal to create an Operations Booster Stabilization Fund (OSBF) (see Fig City News article) is headed back to the Finance Committee. The Council began its discussion of the OBSF late on September 18, at approximately 10:25 PM — after the Council had received a presentation from the Mayor…
On September 18, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller presented the FY2025-FY2029 Five-Year Capital Improvement Project Plan. After providing a general overview, Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Yeo provided the Council with a presentation of the plan’s highlights. The plan includes: Mayor Fuller highlighted three issues that the City will face in the coming…
Rep. Jake Auchincloss has been traveling the Fourth Congressional District, connecting with constituents, giving high marks to the Biden Administration and low marks to the current House leadership. At the top of his list of Administration accomplishments, Rep. Auchincloss noted the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, of which…
Mayor Ruthanne Fuller has announced that the City may soon have additional one-time funds of about $48 million available, and she has proposed that these funds be used for a combination of one-time needs and stabilizing the City’s financing through 2032 as the City completes its plan to fully fund…
In the past week, both the Newton Teachers Association (NTA) and the School Committee have released public statements regarding the status of negotiations for a new contract to replace the existing one, which expires on August 31. The School Committee has stated the two sides are at an impasse, and…
Ending months of sometimes tense negotiations with the Mayor, the City Council voted to approve the Mayor’s FY24 budget of $499,710,209 General Fund allocations with an additional $70, 306,117 for Community Preservation, Water, Sewer, and Stormwater funds, for a total of $570,016,326. (See FY2024 Budget, FY2024-2028 CIP, and FY2024-2028 Supplemental CIP).…
Prior to the City Council’s full budget review and approval, the City Council met to consider a resolution proposed by Ward 4 Councilor, Lenny Gentile, to use $10,000,000 of Free Cash designated for the Lincoln Eliot Elementary School project, as part of an unrestricted reserve fund comprised of: Councilor Gentile’s…
State Senator Cynthia Creem just announced that the Senate’s FY24 Budget is complete and shared a number of budget items that will benefit Newton programs and services. As Majority Leader in the Massachusetts Senate, with thirty-seven Democrats and three Republicans, Senator Creem achieved a wide range of budget goals for…
In the wake of the Operational Override failure on March 14th and after nearly two months of negotiations between the Newton City Council and the Newton Retirement Board, the City Council voted 23-0* to accept the Retirement Board’s proposal to increase funding for the Pension Trust at the rate of…