A city budget is much more than a balance sheet or a collection of numbers. Rather, it serves as a road map, a guide, an indication of the directions the city will take in coming years. It is for this reason that we pay close attention when the mayor unveils his budget proposal each year.

There is much to be commended in the newly released document – the mayor has found creative ways to keep pace with rising costs and weakening state aid without gutting services or raising taxes exorbitantly.
One of the strengths of the new budget is that it addresses some concerns we have raised in this space.

In recent months, we have opined on the problems with the Board of Health. These problems had their roots both in personality and in structure. In the new proposal, the mayor addresses both levels of these problems.

The new budget calls for the Board of Health to be replaced by a single Commissioner of Health, appointed by the mayor and answerable only to him. The Commissioner will be assisted by a nine-member advisory board, but will not be bound by their recommendations.

Centralizing the authority of the Board of Health under the mayor serves an important purpose – it eliminates any confusion about authority and accountability for health issues in the city. In the past, the quasi-autonomous Board of Health has made unpopular, arbitrary, and autocratic decisions, and there has been no structure of accountability for their actions.

Now, the Commissioner of Health will be accountable to the people of Somerville, via their elected leader, the mayor. If the commissioner makes unpopular decisions, the mayor will bring him in line, replace him, or suffer the consequences.

This clear chain of accountability will make the city government more transparent, and encourage better decision-making.

If all goes well, and the petition passes, the mayor will need to appoint a commissioner. When he does so, both he and the commissioner should make a public declaration of their agenda and goals for the health of the city. This will bring issues of public health out of the dark corners of closed meetings and into the public discourse, where they belong.