Medford Councilor Wants to Consider Zero Tax Increase

A Medford City Councilor wants to know what it would take for the city's tax rate to remain the same next year.

With the council set to begin its review of the budget this week, Breanna Lungo-Koehn wants the city's finance department to calculate a Medford municipal budget's bottom line that would result in no tax increase in 2012.

"I think now is the time we have to ask the question, because if we try to ask about it in December and they say you have to do that in June when you’re going over the budget," she said during a council meeting Tuesday night.

Mayor Michael McGlynn has proposed a series of capital improvement projects, dubbed "," which could cost an estimated $20 million to $30 million. Lungo-Koehn said she wants to know how that will impact the city's financial picture.

“I'm assuming the mayor is planning on taxing to the maximum," she said. "...There’s going to be a point where enough is enough. We need to make a stand and no better time than now."

City Councilor Michael Marks said the city's services are dwindling, yet the tax rate continues to rise. In discussing the tax rate, he seized the opportunity to challenge McGlynn to implement a parking enforcement program.

"Think of how that could off-set this budget, while the mayor sits on his hands on the issue and pretends to know what businesses in our downtown district need."

City Councilor Fred Dello Russo said the numbers could be useful, but the city should approach the idea of no tax increase with caution.

"We also need to consider what the repercussions are, if there are any," he said.

The council approved a resolution brought forward by Lungo-Koehn Tuesday by a 5-0 vote calling for city Budget Director Stephanie Burke to provide the dollar figure required for the city's budget to result in no tax increase next year. Councilors Paul Camuso and Robert Penta were absent, so they did not cast votes on the resolution.