Beverly City Council Regular Meeting – December 1, 2025
Beverly City Council Regular Meeting – December 1, 2025
The Beverly City Council held its regular meeting on Monday, December 1, 2025, at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers. The agenda included public comments, a public hearing on the FY2026 tax levy classification, and action on numerous grants, license renewals, and an ordinance amendment. The council approved a 1.75 tax shift factor, a $900,000 MassDOT grant for a roundabout, grants totaling $6.5 million from MassWorks, a $100,000 earmark for intersection improvements, and a $9,995 cybersecurity grant, among other items.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Peter Willworth (10 Fawcett Terrace) expressed concern about police payroll costs, noting that 19 of the city’s top 20 earners in 2024 were police officers, with the top earner at $264,000 (salary $126,000 + overtime $28,000 + paid details $109,000). He suggested using civilian flaggers, capping overtime/detail hours, and questioned whether such high earnings impact public safety. He cited an example of two officers assigned to a single detail.
- John Taylor (41 Cole Street) praised the council’s conservative financial planning and forecasting but urged against public-private partnerships (citing Chicago’s parking meter deal), bonding for operating costs, and avoiding sudden employee layoffs. He acknowledged a projected $3 million deficit for FY2026.
Discussion Items
Tax Levy Classification Hearing (Order 254) – Chief Assessor Francis Golden presented the FY2026 classification options. The total taxable value and maximum levy produce a single tax rate of $11.99 per $1,000. The mayor recommended a 1.75 shift (maximum allowed), shifting an additional $11,751,389 from residential to commercial, industrial, and personal property classes. At a 1.75 shift, the residential tax rate would be $10.81 and the commercial rate $20.98. The average single-family tax bill would be $8,833.93 (up 4.83%, an increase of $406.80). The mayor did not recommend adopting a residential exemption or small commercial exemption. Councilors Houseman, Sweeney, and St. Hilaire discussed the impact on small businesses and residents. Budget Analyst Jerry Perry recommended approving the 1.75 shift and not adopting an open space exemption, emphasizing the need for timely approval to avoid cash flow problems.
Grants and Infrastructure – Mayor Cahill presented three grants for the Brimble Avenue/Dunham Road roundabout project: $900,000 from MassDOT and two MassWorks grants totaling $6.5 million, covering the full projected construction cost (estimated at $6.5–$7 million). Construction is expected to begin mid-late spring 2026 and take approximately 1.5 years. A separate $100,000 earmark from the Executive Office of Economic Development will support the Corning/Essex/Spring Street intersection, which is awaiting a traffic signal preemption solution from Keolis and the MBTA.
Subcommittee Work – The Finance and Property subcommittee approved all grant orders, the cybersecurity grant, and the tax levy recommendations. The Legal Affairs subcommittee approved renewal applications for motor vehicle dealer and taxi licenses, and gave a first reading to an ordinance amendment changing Kernwood Heights entrance restrictions to align with elementary school schedule changes.
Key Outcomes
- Tax Levy Shift: Approved the 1.75 shift factor (residential factor 90.1849) with an 8-0 vote. Also approved (8-0) not to adopt an open space exemption.
- Grant Approvals (all 8-0):
- Order 264: $900,000 MassDOT grant for Brimble Ave/Dunham Road roundabout.
- Order 266: Two MassWorks grants totaling $6.5 million for the same project.
- Order 267: $100,000 earmark for Corning/Essex/Spring Street intersection.
- Order 268: $9,995 cybersecurity grant from MIIA.
- License Renewals (all 8-0): Class 2 motor vehicle dealer licenses for BM Best Auto Sales, Rile Side Auto, Lion Gas and Auto Services; taxi license for JTB Transit Solutions.
- Ordinance First Reading: Order 288 (Kernwood Heights time restriction change) passed 8-0 on first reading; final passage scheduled for December 15 meeting.
- Other Approvals: Order 265 (donation of 20 turkeys to veterans) approved 8-0; acceptance of minutes and referral of various appointments and orders to subcommittees.
- Next Meetings: Financial Forecasting Committee December 2 and December 9; City Council December 15 (final meeting of term); Swearing-in on January 5, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
No, you're good. Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us here in the council chamber. Uh Kim is ready and rolling in the Bev Cam booth. Thank you, Kim, for being here and keeping us streaming as always. And uh welcome back, everyone, after a long weekend and uh a time of Thanksgiving. Hope that you all had an enjoyable time with friends or family. It's good to be back together here in the council chamber. I do want to just mention before we get going that we do have some members of our city staff and others uh who are here with us, and so I want to just thank Brian Ayles, our city finance director for being here with us this evening. Frank Golden, our chief assessor as well, thank you for being here. Uh Jerry Perry, our city council budget analyst, thank you, Mr. Perry, and our fire chief Peter O'Connor. Thank you very much, Chief, for being here. Before I call the meeting to order officially, I'll just walk through our agenda so we can be on the same page about what's in front of us for this evening. We do have two resident speakers who have signed up to speak, and that will be for three minutes each, after three minutes each, and I'll say more about how those spots work when we come to that. We do have a posted 7:30 public hearing to set the tax levy percentages. And so if there are members of the public who wish to speak in that public hearing or who are watching on BEVCAM now and headed this way, you can sign up on the sheet over on the window by the door to my right, and um we'll take public speakers in that public hearing in the order that they are signed up. Then we've got some routine business to work on together. We'll take a brief break for some subcommittee work and we'll be back to finish it all up. So with that, I'll officially call to order this regular meeting of the Beverly City Council Monday, December 1st, 2025, 7 o'clock PM. Ms. Kent, will you please call the roll? Crawley Feldman. Houseman? Retundo? Spang. St. Hilaire? Your lady? Here. Sweeney? Here. And flowers. Here. Thank you, Ms. Kent. Counselor Feldman, will you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, please? Pledge of allegiance. To the flag. Thank you. One nation under God, individual with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much, Councillor Feldman. So we will go directly to the public comment section. The way that public comment works for the city council is that at any of our regular meetings, we have up to five public comment spots available for three minutes each. And these can be signed up for on a first come, first served basis by contacting the city clerk's office no later than 9:30, the morning of the meeting. And I often like to just say that you won't see the council engage in a back and forth. There won't be a question and answer session during this time, but just it it's not structured that way, but just because we're not interacting with the speakers who are here with us this evening does not mean that we're not listening carefully and taking your comments very seriously, and it's always important to get to hear from folks. So we'll go to our first speaker, uh Peter Willworth. And if you would begin with your name and address for the record, even though I've just given away your name, I'm sorry about that. Uh stole that surprise.
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