Framingham Budget Cuts: How Coronavirus Is Hitting City Finances

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Framingham Mayor Yvonne Spicer has sent her general fund budget for fiscal 2021 — which begins on July 1 — to City Council. The $300 million recommendation was retooled over the last few months as coronavirus swept across the state, sickening and killing thousands, and shutting down countless businesses.

Local revenue is down, and the state is facing its own budget crunch due to a multi-billion dollar drop in revenue. Spicer has prepared a no-frills budget. It includes normal pay increases, but no bonuses for department heads. The city is under a hiring freeze, and will only hire about half the usual number of seasonal employees this summer.

To patch the revenue hole, Spicer wants to use $8.1 million in free cash to stabilize the budget, which will allow the city to avoid upping the property tax levy.

"Increasing taxes at this time is not a step your government will take," Spicer said in a budget memo to Council.

As usual, the biggest drivers of the budget increase are salaries and utilities. Almost every department's payroll is set to rise in 2021, and so are costs for utilities like electricity and natural gas. Gasoline and diesel for city vehicles will likely cost less this year in most cases, however.

Here's a look at what kind of cuts Spicer is recommending, and which departments might actually see a boost in fiscal 2021.

Revenue

Framingham was expecting a boost in revenue this year from local taxes and more local aid from the state. The city is bracing for those two streams to be much lower.

In November, Gov. Charlie Baker signed the Student Opportunity Act. The new law increases state aid for public schools, and Framingham was supposed to get $58 million. Framingham officials have heard from state officials that new opportunity act funds "will not be viable" in fiscal 2021.

"It may be something that has to be deferred," Spicer said Tuesday of the Student Opportunity Act during the City Council meeting.

Estimates say Framingham's revenue will be reduced by about $6.5 million this year due to drops in state aid and a lack of growth in excise, vehicle, and hotel taxes.

School Department

Framingham Public Schools sent an ambitious $147 million request to Spicer in early April. Combined, Spicer received $15.4 million in budget increase requests for fiscal 2021, and the school's request accounted for $8.8 million of that.

"These requests cannot be fulfilled," Spicer said in her budget letter to Council. "Our new economic reality has required that we review all budgets and focus on maintaining our core services; only what is required to keep our city safe and healthy."

In making the $147 million request, the Framingham School Committee and Superintendent Robert Tremblay acknowledged it might be revised due to coronavirus. Spicer has recommended a $142 million budget instead, still an increase over the fiscal 2020 budget of about $138.4 million.

Department of Public Health

Now more than ever, residents are aware of the importance of the health department. But that doesn't mean it will get a boost in funding. The budget in fiscal 2021 will stay about the same at $1.22 million, with a $21,570 increase almost entirely due to regular wage increases. Health Director Dr. Samuel Wong, like all other department heads, will forgo a merit increase.

The department's education and training request is being cut by $3,500 to $9,000.

Framingham Police

The police budget is rising by about $1.4 million, almost entirely due to pay increases for officers following a new contract signed in September — the first since 2015. The two biggest bumps come in salary increases ($632,000) and incentive pay for officers who earn higher education degrees while on the job ($539,000), part of the Quinn Bill. The city has also budgeted to hire a new part-time animal control officer.

There are some cuts in the department. Most notably the fund to replace police vehicles could be $50,000 less in 2021.

Framingham Fire Department

The fire department, on the other hand, is budgeted for a $78,000 cut in fiscal 2021. Overall department salaries are dropping from $10.5 to $10.3 million. Pay for defibrillator training and hazardous duty are dropping slightly too. But pay for hazmat training, clothing, and overtime are all rising.

Department of Public Works

All divisions combined, the total recommended public works budget is close to $14 million. Across the seven divisions, only engineering and administration would see budget cuts this year.

Highway: $4 million, increase of $52,968

The rise can be attributed to salary and wage increases, although the seasonal employee budget is being cut by about $19,000.

Administration: $565,006, decrease of $37,613

A $32,000 cut to the salary budget for this division accounts for most of the decrease.

Engineering: $936,485, decrease of $81,582

Due to a hiring freeze, the city won't replace a vacant senior surveyor position, the largest cut to this division's budget.

Streetlights, Signs: $965,493, increase of $60,207

Apart from a small bump in salaries, the budget is rising due to expected higher utilities, and costs related to energy conservation improvements at municipal facilities.

Sanitation: $4.4 million, increase of $218,150

There's a slight rise in salaries, but a bigger increase comes from the cost of trash disposal, which is going from $76.50 per ton to $80.50 per ton. But an even bigger increase is the cost of recycling, which is rising to $105 per ton, a $25 per-ton increase over fiscal 2020. Recycling costs have skyrocketed across the country due to new restrictions in China, the world's largest importer of recycling materials.

Fleet, Facilities: $1.3 million, increase of $20,244

This division would get about $22,000 in fiscal 2021 to pay for personnel who handle overnight duty at the public works dispatch center.

Snow, Ice: $1.6 million, same as fiscal 2020

No changes to this division following a very light winter in Massachusetts.

Parks and Recreation Department

The total fiscal 2021 recommendation (excluding the cemeteries and Council on Aging divisions) is down by about $256,000 to $2.7 million. That's because the budget for part-time workers has been halved. Otherwise, there's little change from fiscal 2020.

Framingham Public Library

The overall budget recommendation is 3.27 million, $18,075 higher than fiscal 2020. The budget for buying library materials — books, DVDs, and more — would actually be at the highest point since fiscal 2017 at $268,015 (up from $248,015 in fiscal 2020).

The rest of the budget is mostly the same compared to 2020. The part-time budget is being reduced by about $31,000, but overall salaries will rise.

Mayor, City Council

Spicer is cutting her own office's budget by $9,281 to $948,964. Some cuts are coming from fees paid to consultants, mileage reimbursement, and not hiring two new full-time employees in the next fiscal year.

The City Council's 2021 budget will be cut by about $4,000 to $336,849. The cuts come from lower mileage reimbursement and a $5,000 cut to education and training (offset by cost increases for wages and new laptops).

City Clerk

The fiscal 2021 budget is essentially the same as 2020, with one notable cost increase. The election division will have to pay about $6,000 in printing and mailing costs due to the new automatic voter registration law that went into effect on Jan. 1. Under that law, anyone who visits the Registry of Motor Vehicles for a license or ID gets automatically registered, and local governments have to send notifications to newly registered voters.

The Framingham City Council will now review Spicer's recommendations over a series of meetings in the coming weeks before the June 30 deadline. You can read all fiscal 2021 documents, including the capital budget requests, on Framingham's website.