Here’s What’s In Newton’s Historic FY2024 Proposed Budget

NEWTON, MA – Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller presented the city’s FY2024 budget – the largest in the city’s history – to the city council on Monday. Here’s what to know.

With the Covid-19 declaration of emergency being lifted for the city of Newton on May 11, Fuller said she can now focus on setting the city on a course of recovery and reinvestment.

To do that, Fuller set out three objectives in her presentation:

• First, move forward sustainably to make Newton greater, better and more beautiful. We dedicate resources to provide excellent schools, first-rate public safety, better and safer streets, support for older residents and those struggling, outstanding services, beautiful green spaces, and vibrant villages. We take action across a range of issues − housing, transportation, economic development and climate resiliency – to keep moving forward;
• Second, fulfill promises made by prior Mayors, City Councilors and School Committee members and put us on the path to fund our long term financial obligations, including the $1 billion dollars of unfunded pensions and retiree health care;
• Third, protect the City’s financial strength and budgetary flexibility so we can face evolving risks and unpredictable financial conditions, such as pandemics, economic downturns, inflationary cycles and dramatic weather events.

With a proposed budget of just over half a billion dollars, Fuller hopes to meet those three objectives, all in the face of a failed override in March that would have provided an additional $4.5 million in funding for school and city operations.

Newton Public Schools

Fuller set aside 65 percent of the city’s budget to go toward Newton Public Schools, after the school committee voted last week on a $268.7 million NPS budget. The NPS budget will be supplemented by over $40 million funded by the city in the municipal operating budget, for a total of $308.7 million in funding for NPS.

• To close the school budget gap at Newton Public Schools, Fuller outlined several steps:
• We have strategically utilized $10 million of Free Cash to reduce required debt service for the Lincoln-Eliot Elementary School project to free up operating budget capacity; this allowed me to increase the NPS appropriation by $600,000 per year beyond this year’s anticipated 3.5% annual increase;
• We have provided a “Bridge Grant” to the Newton Public Schools of $1.4 million from Free Cash to offset significant increased costs imposed by the state for out-of-district placements;
• We have worked collaboratively with the Newton Retirement Board to increase the base pension on which retiree COLAs are calculated and extend our full-funding date by one additional year to create a sustainable pathway to fully fund our pension system by August 2031; this collaboration in turn has created flexibility to fund the $23 million Horace Mann Elementary School addition/renovation;
• We have restructured our health insurance plans to provide continued access to excellent health care while eliminating an outdated reimbursement plan for Medicare Part B. This results in $680,000 in savings for NPS for FY2024 and another $680,000 for next year, FY2025;
• We have used Free Cash to pay NPS legal settlements totaling $580,000;
• Even without the operating override, we initially allocated a 3.73% increase in funding to the Newton Public Schools for an increase of $9.77 million dollars over last year’s FY2023 NPS budget. This translated into a total FY2024 NPS budget of $271.8 million. Last Tuesday, with my support, the School Committee voted to move $3.1 million in NPS retiree health care costs out of this allocation and out of the NPS budget over to the City. NPS retiree health care costs are currently increasing at a greater rate than City revenues so this action relieves pressure on the NPS budget. My proposed Budget tonight has the City administering this program, assuming the costs, and taking on the risks in support of the Newton Public Schools;
• Tonight, I am also announcing another step to support the Newton Public Schools. I am allocating $400,000 of ARPA funds to pay for summer maintenance projects across NPS’ 23 buildings. The School Committee voted last Thursday to postpone funding these necessary summer maintenance projects to minimize the impact on class sizes. This ARPA funding will allow these projects to be done now and next year, and NPS to access additional funding from health insurance to permanently build these maintenance expenditures into its budget.

Despite these measures, Fuller said out of approximately 2,100 positions, NPS will have a net decrease of 40 positions next year.

ARPA funding

Newton received approximately $63.6 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars to help
the city respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency and its negative economic impacts and make up for the City’s “lost revenues” from the pandemic.

Fuller will allocate the remaining $4.9 million of ARPA funding with a $2 million investment for road paving and another $2.1 million for infrastructure repairs and improvements, such as: NPS summer maintenance projects, a second synthetic turf field for Newton North High School, the roof of the Underwood Elementary School, a second pedestrian bridge at Albemarle, and repairs to Albemarle fieldhouse, the Newton Corner Library and Farlow Park, the Pellegrini Rec Center, the Library Plaza, the Crystal Lake bathhouse and parking lot.

Free cash

This year, Newton has $28.8 million in Free Cash – the remaining unspent, unrestricted funds from operations from a previous fiscal year.

• Paying in part for the new Lincoln-Eliot and supporting NPS operations;
• Replacing the two synthetic turf fields at Newton South and one at Newton North;
• Providing a “bridge grant” to NPS for Out-of-District tuitions;
• Buying large vehicles for DPW, construction equipment, a Fire Engine, sidewalk plows, and police cruisers;
• Replacing the Newton Free Library’s HVAC system;
• Purchasing new election equipment, and;
• Upgrading the Police Department’s computer and IT systems.

You can read mayor Fuller’s full proposed FY2024 budget here.