Waltham Faces 'Severe Revenue Picture,' Mayor Says

WALTHAM, MA — Waltham Mayor Jeannette McCarthy presented her budget for fiscal 2021 — which begins July 1 — to the City Council Monday night via Zoom, calling the city's revenue picture "severe."

Her proposed $277.87 million budget is down from last year's budget of some $278.11 million and reflects a hit to the city's revenue as coronavirus has swept across the state, impacting nearly every community in its wake — including Waltham.

Local revenue is down and the state is facing its own budget crunch because of a multi-billion dollar drop in revenue. Waltham was expecting a boost in revenue this year from local taxes and more local aid from the state. This year, the city is bracing for those two streams to be much lower, possibly by 20 percent, the mayor told the council.

The coronavirus pandemic has cut into city revenues coming from hotel and meals taxes, as well as the local sales tax and parking fees in many cities and communities. Although she didn't say how much of a hit Waltham's revenue took, McCarthy said the city was able to save about $3.6 million by not filling current vacancies "to offset the severe revenue picture that we have right now."

It's not unusual for the mayor's budget recommendation to be a pared-down version of what departments request. Last year, her recommendation was nearly $7 million less than what departments asked for. This year, the budget recommended by McCarthy totaled $277,873, 104—down nearly $17.7 million from the $295,610,936 departmental requests.

From the mayor's letter to city council:

Last year, city council approved a budget of 278,047,317, $90 million of which went to schools. Of this year's proposed $277,873,104 budget, $92,098,631 is set aside for the schools.

• Previously: Waltham Could See 13 Percent Increase In State Education Aid
• Waltham City Council Authorizes $375 Million For New High School

See the full mayoral budget recommendation for FY2021:

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).Have a press release you'd like posted on the Waltham Patch? Here's how to post a press release, opinion piece.