New Bedford City Council Meeting - March 30, 2026
New Bedford City Council Meeting - March 30, 2026
The New Bedford City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, March 30, 2026, at 7:01 PM at City Hall. Key actions included approving the sale of bonds and bond anticipation notes, discussing the fiscal 2027 cost of living adjustment for retirees, and adopting 20 Community Preservation Committee project recommendations totaling $2,227,341.
Consent Calendar
- A communication from Councilor Morat regarding a COLA base increase for retirees was received and placed on file.
- A communication from CFO Bob Ekstrom was also received and placed on file.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments or testimony were recorded.
Discussion Items
- Item 1 – Bond Sale Approval: John Taxios, Treasurer/Collector, presented a request to permanently finance $47,340,000 in projects and issue $36,621,169 in renewal temporary notes. He reported that the city received favorable rates: the bond issue (resized to $41,075,000) was sold to Huntington Securities at a true interest cost of 4.02%, with 11 bids received; the bond anticipation notes ($37,448,169) were sold to TD Financial Products at a net interest cost of 2.63%, with 4 bids received. S&P Global Ratings affirmed the city’s AA- underlying bond rating and assigned an SP1+ rating to the notes. Councilor Choquette asked whether the rating reflected the recent snowstorm budget impacts; Taxios clarified the debt was from the FY25 CIP and earlier projects and did not include recent events.
- Item 2 – COLA Increase for Retirees: Lenny Belanger, Chair of the Retirement Board, reported that the fund has grown from $336 million to over $600 million in 8 years, earning 14.7% on investments last year. The proposed COLA increase to $16,000 (from $14,000) would cost the city approximately $1,167,000 per year. He noted that 57% of retirees receive $2,500/month or less, and 17% are at or below the poverty level. CFO Bob Ekstrom provided a budget overview, stating that mandatory costs (education, assessments, debt service) are up $28 million, while new revenue is only $18.8 million, leaving a $9.2 million non-tax-levy deficit. Adding department requests and insurance increases brings the total to a $15.3 million deficit. He noted that unfunded union contracts could add $4-4.2 million more. Councilor Pereira expressed concern about the city's contract management, calling it “atrocious” that police are in a third year without a contract. He supported the COLA increase, noting it would add about $1 million to the tax levy. Councilor Abreu asked about retiree hardships; Belanger said his office receives multiple calls weekly for assistance. The council referred the item to the full council for adoption of a $16,000 COLA.
- Item 3 – Community Preservation Committee Funding Recommendations: Chair Jan DeSilver presented the FY26 recommendations. Of 28 initial applications, 2 withdrew, 6 were not recommended, and 20 were moved forward. Key projects included:
- 105 Ashley Boulevard: $100,000 for community housing (9 units, all at 60% AMI).
- Cape Verdean Veteran Artifacts & Documentation: $35,000 for historic preservation.
- Former Friends Meeting House: $15,000 for a window assessment (historic resource). Councilor Abreu noted the 7-1 committee vote; DeSilver explained the dissenting member opposed funding a for-profit organization, but the majority supported it given the building’s National Historic Landmark status.
- Gallery X Roof: $55,000 for a roof replacement.
- Russell Howland House: $288,835 for community housing (16 low-moderate income units, 4 market rate). Councilor Baptiste expressed concerns about neighborhood parking and building height.
- Habitat for Humanity: $150,000 for an affordable homeownership project on Pleasant Street (one of three planned lots). First homeownership project funded by CPC.
- Historic Bonin Building Roof: $150,000.
- New Bedford Art Museum Window Restoration: $215,000 to restore arched windows on the William and Pleasant Street sides.
- New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center Archives Phase 4: $35,000.
- Library Hall Playbill Conservation Phase 2: $45,000.
- Dais Field: $62,556 for lights and security cameras.
- Riverside Park Playground: $245,000 for a replacement (includes moving the playground upland to avoid flooding).
- Roach-Jones-Duff House Access for All: $42,000.
- Ron Polo Film Collection: $40,000 to digitize and archive a collection of approximately 100,000 negatives/slides from a former Standard-Times photographer. Councilor Abreu asked about public access; DeSilver confirmed the collection will be freely available via Digital Commonwealth.
- Strand Theatre Exterior: $100,000 to complete exterior work.
- Taylor School Playground: $200,000.
- Cape Verdean Veterans Hall Restoration: $160,000 for HVAC, insulation, structural work, and window restoration. Councilor Baptiste noted this is a separate entity from the artifact project.
- William H. Kearney Lodge: $155,000 for exterior work and an ADA ramp.
- YWCA Historical Stone Wall: $125,000 to restore a stone wall dating to the early 1800s.
Key Outcomes
- Bond & BAN Sale (Item 1): Amended to approve $41,075,000 in bonds and $37,448,169 in BANs (unanimous 9-0). Final approval as amended also unanimous (9-0).
- COLA Increase (Item 2): Motion to refer to the full council for adoption of a $16,000 COLA passed 10-0.
- Community Preservation Committee Recommendations (Item 3): All 20 projects were approved individually by voice vote, with roll call votes on projects 16 (10-0), 18 (10-0), and the final overarching referral (10-0). Total funding approved: $2,227,341.
- Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 8:46 PM.
Meeting Transcript
It is Monday, March 30th at the City Hall at 701 p.m. calling the City Council meeting into order. In attendance, we have Councilor at Lodge, James Roy, Councilor Lodge, Naomi Carney, Councilor Lodge, Ian Abrew, Councilor of War 2, Scott Pemberton, Councillor of Ward 1, Leo Choquette, Counselor at Lodge, Brian K. Gomes, Council President Ryan Pereira, who is also Warsex Counselor, myself, Joseph Lopes, Ward 5 City Councilor, and we do have uh is it one letter to be read into the record? No, I have no letters. We have no letters to Burdenford Records, but I did receive a text message from uh Council of War 3 Sean Oliver stating that he would be 10 to 15 minutes late. You can read it. Item number one is a communication. John Taxios, uh Treasurer Collector to Councillor Joseph P. Lopes, Chair Committee on Finance, requesting a vote of the Finance Committee to permanently finance various projects in the amount of forty-three, excuse me, forty-seven million three hundred and forty thousand dollars, and to issue a renew temporary notes for various projects in the amount of thirty-six million six hundred and twenty one hundred and sixty-nine dollars. This debt was previously authorized by a vote of the finance committee is required uh to approve the actual sale. It was received here on March 16th, 2026. Item number one is before you. Opposed, the ayes have it. John, if you'd like to go to the podium. That's number two. Thank you. Investors have previously anticipated more than two rate cuts before year end, and markets are now pricing in no cuts at all. Despite these developments, we received favorable rates on both the bonds and bans. The successful bidder of the 42,510,000 general obligation state qualified municipal bond issue of the city dated April 9, 2026. Was Huntington Securities at a price of 42,689,377, and a true interest cost of 4.02%. The city received 11 bids on the bonds. Due to the premium received, the debt was resized to 41,075,000 as shown in the revised letter. The successful bidder of the $37,448,169. General obligation bond anticipation notes dated April 10th, 2026, was TD financial products with a net interest cost of 2.63%. The city received four bids on the bands. Affirm the city's double A minus double A minus underlying bond rating and assigned the SP1 plus rating to the notes, which is the highest municipal short-term rating attainable. The rating agency cited the city's expanding and diversifying local economy, stable financial performance, increasing reserves, and forward-looking conservative management with strong financial management policies and practices as positive credit factors. Furthermore, SP Global Ratings assigned the double A plus enhanced rating to the bonds as debt services secured by the State Qualified Bond Act. Thank you for your consideration of my request to approve the sale of the bond and bans. Thank you, John. We do have questions, Council Choquett, on your first. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening, John. Again, I'm kind of putting you on the spot here, but I was just looking at the uh reports here on the credit highlights. Do these does this bond rating was it does this reflect uh our recent um you know bout with the Snow Mageddon blizzard there that we had that depleted quite a bit of the because I'm reading right here where it says um I just lost it here. Okay, we note that the fiscal 2026 budget included a cut to the snow and ice budget that removed the city's ability to deficit spend in that account and a cut in the police budget by the city council, which was filed by uh filled by an allocation of free cash that we view as not sustainable. I was just curious if this was before any of that. Okay. So we think we got that in before the budget classification. I mean the uh the bond classification, the grading, right? Yeah, so all of this debt that we have listed here was part of the 25 CIP and some other pieces for school that were related to those projects, but it did not include anything that was more recent. Okay. That yeah, that's I just wanted to clarify that. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield. Thank you, Councillor Kitt.
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