New Bedford City Council Fourth Budget Hearing - June 3, 2026
New Bedford City Council Fourth Budget Hearing - June 3, 2026
The New Bedford City Council held its fourth budget hearing on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, at 6:00 PM. Vice President Burgo presided in the absence of Council President Ryan Pura, who submitted a letter noting his late arrival. The hearing reviewed proposed FY27 budgets for several departments: Purchasing, Resilience and Environmental Stewardship, City Utilities, Zoological Society, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Inspectional Services, Auditor's Office, Treasurer's Office, Debt Service, and the Airport Enterprise Fund.
Discussion Items
- Purchasing Department (Director Gilfeather Rodriguez): No significant changes; team of five. Requested $3,200 for BidNet (online bidding platform) offset by reductions in supplies and training. Reported $4 million in savings from lowest vs. second-lowest bids on construction projects. Average bids per solicitation improved from 2 to 3, targeting 4. Outreach to disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE) and women-owned enterprises continues. Councillor Lopes asked about object code classification for BidNet and DocuSign ($10,500) under repairs and maintenance vs. contractual services; CFO XRM noted that object codes can vary but consistency is desirable. Also mentioned a capital improvements map being developed.
- Resilience and Environmental Stewardship (Director Michelle Paul): Presented extensive work on conservation, energy, brownfields, and Superfund coordination. Two enhancement requests: $2,510 for Sullivan's Ledge five-year review (lab analysis) and $13,000 for Shawmet Avenue Landfill postclosure monitoring plus $6,700 for a gas well repair. Director Paul noted these are required costs, not true enhancements. No questions from council.
- City Utilities (Manager Tyler Reese): Oversees 475 electric/gas accounts. Library utility bill discrepancy explained by a $75,000 budget cut, not usage increase. Councilor Abraham expressed frustration with Eversource rate increases and urged a coalition of municipalities to push back. Manager Reese confirmed they are organizing a letter with other cities. Projected a 5% increase for electricity and 7% for gas, with solar savings estimated between $500,000 and $900,000. Councilor Gomes offered support.
- Zoological Society (Director Shara Raposa): Zoo remains AZA-accredited through 2029. Attendance up 1.7%; social media reach grew from 880,000 to 3.81 million. Proposed FY27 budget of $2,061,050 was reduced by 4.7% ($97,488) through cuts including elimination of a building maintenance position and reductions in supplies, training, and animal shipments. Reclassifications of two zookeepers to senior keepers and other title changes were noted. Councillor Lopes acknowledged the department's honesty about reclassifications but criticized the administration for prioritizing some areas over others. Councillor Burgo highlighted that the zoo received a larger percentage cut than the library. Director Raposa emphasized that animal care staffing is now adequate but cuts will increase reliance on other departments.
- Emergency Medical Services (Director Michael Thomas): Stressed the need for adequate funding to maintain response times. Operates seven ambulances daily; mutual aid calls reduced from ~1,400 to 600 annually. Revenue $11.6 million in FY26, projected $12 million in FY27, with a budget of $6.4 million. Councillor Carney noted the department generates more revenue than its budget. Councillor Gomes defended overtime as essential for public safety standbys and extended shifts. CFO XRM warned that cutting overtime would reduce revenue by a factor of 2:1. Councilor Burgo noted that the council had approved a $265,000 transfer for EMS earlier in the year. Discussion on enterprise fund concept; CFO XRM stated it is unlikely and would increase property taxes.
- Inspectional Services (Commissioner Romanowitz): Two positions eliminated: building inspector (vacant all year) and compliance officer (recently vacated). Commissioner noted difficulty hiring due to pay. Councillor Burgo criticized the administration for reclassifying positions in other departments while cutting inspectional services, which is revenue-generating. Councillor Lopes commended the department's work and revenue generation.
- Auditor's Office (City Auditor Quillen): Two positions eliminated: assistant city auditor (retiring August 2026) and project coordinator (vacant since April). Requesting $3,000 in contractual services for outside help. Budget described as lean.
- Treasurer's Office (City Treasurer John Taxiarcos): 13 funded positions. Notable accomplishments: $800,000 additional delinquent real estate tax collection, 62% increase in tax title payment agreements, and implementation of ACH vendor payments. Three promotions (reclassifications) were noted: executive finance operations specialist, payroll supervisor, and administrative coordinator. Budget increase of 4.5%.
- Debt Service (presented by Treasurer Taxiarcos): Proposed FY27 budget $12,755,657, an increase of $2.5 million attributed to interest on a short-term loan ($1.3 million) and new bond payments for school projects and clean water loans. Councillor Carney expressed concern about rising debt and its impact on taxpayers.
- Airport Enterprise Fund (Director Scott Service): Airport is one of nine commercial airports in Massachusetts, ranking 6th in operations. Received $70 million in grants over 10 years with 4.3% city cost. Economic impact $29.6 million. Revenue ~$1.2 million; budget request includes subsidy from general fund projected at $125,000 (up from $47,000 last year). Enhancement requests: $7,500 for public safety (fire monitoring, HVAC) and $20,000 for vehicle maintenance. Director Service noted that the airport pays back $448,000 to the general fund for services (pension, health insurance, utilities, etc.) plus $64,000 in indirect costs. Councillor Gomes emphasized the need for terminal and roadway improvements to attract business. Chair Burgo expressed concern about the increasing subsidy but acknowledged the airport's economic value and stated he would support supplemental appropriations if revenue exceeds projections.
Key Outcomes
- No votes were taken; this was a hearing to gather information.
- Council members expressed support for EMS, the zoo, and inspectional services, noting their revenue-generating capacity.
- Councillor Burgo and others raised concerns about the administration's reclassification of positions in some departments while cutting in others, calling for more transparency.
- The City Utilities department will continue organizing a coalition of municipalities to address Eversource issues.
- The Airport Enterprise Fund will provide additional information on the debt service line item classification and a pending transfer request.
- The meeting adjourned after the airport presentation.
Meeting Transcript
Hey, Ian. Ricky. Good evening. I want to note that this meeting is being live streamed and recorded. City Council and Committee meetings can be viewed on the City of New Bedford's homepage under quick links, then meetings. It is Wednesday, June 3rd, 2026, and it is 6 p.m. This is our third, I think, or fourth budget hearing. Fourth. Thank you, Bob. Fourth budget hearing. I have a letter. Dear Vice President Burgo, that's me and Honorable Members of the City Council. I'm writing to inform you that I expect to be late for tonight's budget hearing on Wednesday, June 3rd, due to a personal commitment. Please read this letter into the record to make my colleagues in the public aware of the reason for my delay. This is from our council president, Ryan Pura, hence why I'm sitting here. First on the docket tonight is our purchasing department. Director Gilfeather. Rodriguez. Good evening. Can you hear me? No. Now you can perfect. Thank you. Okay. Good evening. So sorry, on pages uh 123 to 127. Yep. The purchasing budget. We have no significant changes to our budget this year. Um no personnel increases. We are a team of five in my department. Four of us are paid out of the general fund, and we have one ARPA funded position. The only new expense that we're asking to fund is 3200 out of our 200 account for bid net, which is our online bidding platform. So all of the bid opportunities are posted there. Vendors submit their bids through that, and that has eliminated the need for any paper bids. It has really helped digitize our department and streamline operations. We have slightly reduced our 400 account supplies expenses and our employee training line in the 200 account to accommodate for the new bid net expense. So hopefully that's noticed. And we do have employee trainings in our 200 account, and I want to point out that those are mandated by the state to ensure that we are Massachusetts certified in procurement. And that allows us also to stay up to date in any advancements in procurement law. So that funding is very important to our department as well. And I just wanted to demonstrate you have our performance metrics in the book, of course. But something that's not captured there is the delta between uh for FY26 between the lowest bid received on construction projects and the second lowest bid. And the savings there this year alone is roughly $4 million. And the delta between the lowest bid and the highest bid is roughly five million dollars. So that really helps demonstrate um the importance of the public bidding process and some of the savings that we obtained through the public bidding process. I'd be happy to take any questions. Thank you. The chair recognizes Councilor Avery. Thank you very much, Mr.
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