On May 26, Mayor Marc Laredo responded to five FY27 Budget resolutions submitted by the City Council. The City Council reviewed those responses, submitted a sixth resolution, and ultimately voted to approve the $668,336,666 budget by a vote of 22-2. As explained here, the City Council’s amendment powers are limited,…
Posts published in “Budgets”
In your retirement system article, you missed the most important Retirement Board vote. When the City began its pension obligation fund catch-up, the annual payments increased each year by 9.6% with a fully funded date, 2031. This aggressive approach crowded out essential city and school services. Current residents were unfairly…
Mayor Marc Laredo backs a plan for the City of Newton to issue Pension Obligation Bonds, and it has been approved by the Newton City Council, but concerns remain about the long-term financial risks involved. Pension obligations 101 At a basic level, a pension obligation is a debt the City…
I had accepted the narrative that Newton Public Schools (NPS) would have been fully funded, had “unforeseen costs” not arisen. A closer look at Mayor Laredo’s FY27 budget reveals this is a fiction. The numbers simply do not add up. While Mr. Laredo touted an increase for NPS of over…
On Monday, April 27, Mayor Marc Laredo and Chief Financial Officer Maureen Lemieux presented the Laredo Administration’s draft Fiscal Year 2027 budget to the City Council. While Mayor Laredo has presided over multiple years of budget reviews as City Council President, this budget process is his first since his inauguration…
On Monday, April 27, Mayor Marc Laredo presented his proposed FY27 budget to the Newton City Council. In the coming weeks, the City Council will deliberate — and, eventually vote — on his proposed budget. But what exactly are the roles of Mayor Laredo and the City Council in the budget process?…
In a January 2024 interview, I discussed Newton City finances, pension and benefit obligations, and NPS negotiations. I supported the City fully funding its pension liabilities but cautioned that doing so by 2032 — eight years prior to the 2040 Commonwealth deadline — might jeopardize funding for other vital City…
On April 14, the City’s Retirement Board voted unanimously to approve Mayor Marc Laredo’s request to extend the schedule for funding the City’s outstanding pension liability. The City had originally planned to have its pension liability paid off by 2032. The new plan will pay off the liability by 2035,…
Deep, painful cuts are coming to NPS next year once again. To avoid them, different solutions have been presented to Mayor Laredo, from free cash to establishing a special education stabilization fund, to considering school choice. All were swiftly shut down without discussion. No alternative is more evident, viable, and prudent…
For the third time in four years, the Newton Public Schools (NPS) spring budgeting process has brought up the possibility of cuts across several departments, sparking concern and advocacy from educators and community members. These challenges come after COVID-19 relief funds have been exhausted and the March 2023 operating override failed…
Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Casey Ngo-Miller presented to the School Committee on March 11 about the Special Education services provided by NPS and some of the challenges in budgeting and funding these services. A repeated theme was how state and federal mandates have increased the NPS allocation to Special…
The persistent budget shortfall facing Newton Public Schools is no longer a temporary hurdle; it is the fiscal crisis that remains the unspoken backdrop of every discussion about NPS. While the constraints are real, the way our leadership handles them is a choice, and currently, those choices are failing our…