By Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

It’s that time of year again…budget season. Each year since I took office back in 2004, I’ve worked alongside City staff to put before the Board of Aldermen a budget proposal that’s level-headed, clear-eyed, and grounded in our core principles and our community’s shared values. However, that’s not as easy as it may sound. We’re a community full of passionate, engaged residents who care about many different issues and want to accomplish a wide variety of goals. We strive to be a city that provides the best possible education and extra-curricular opportunities for our youngest residents. We strive to be a city that’s transit-friendly, on the cutting edge of sustainability initiatives and climate resiliency, dedicated to community wellness and nutritional food access, expanding urban forestry opportunities, providing top-notch customer service through 311, and much more.

Limited funding sources and rising fixed costs make it more challenging than ever to tackle that mile-long list of things we want to get done. So how do we decide what to prioritize and in which initiatives to invest? We view all of our priorities through the equity lens and ask ourselves: How can we use sound fiscal management practices and make strategic investments to create an equitable economy, a healthy community of opportunity, and a just society? We do it by investing in our most vulnerable groups.

With approximately $800,000 in new investments aimed at creating equity, my administration’s proposed Fiscal Year 2019 budget prioritizes our vulnerable groups – and that starts with our students. Along with public safety, our focus on education and achieving positive life outcomes for our children is our greatest responsibility. And while we’ve made tremendous progress in many areas of education, this year’s budget presents proposed strategic investments in currently unmet needs, program and service gaps, and underserved students. That includes expanding out-of-school time coordination to create new opportunities and break down barriers for our students to access high-quality enrichment programs after school and during the summer, and expanding the SomerBaby initiative to connect even more young families to wrap-around health and other support services, with the ultimate goal of closing the kindergarten readiness gap.

We know that due to regional housing pressures, many families in Somerville are experiencing housing instability. In this year’s budget, we’re proposing investments to assist those residents. With the support of the Board, we established the Office of Housing Stability earlier this year to preserve and expand affordable housing, help residents learn their housing rights, and help residents access housing resources with the goal of providing a real opportunity for Somerville residents to continue living here. To support our new Director of Housing Stability, we are proposing the addition of four new full-time staff for the division, along with initial operating funds.

Critical components of ensuring that Somerville remains a welcoming and diverse community are celebrating cultural interchange, spurring cultural economic development, and supporting immigrant communities. The Nibble Culinary Entrepreneurship Program operates with these pillars in mind. The program entered a new phase with grant support and the Board of Aldermen’s support in the spring when we signed a lease for a space at the Bow Market for a new Nibble Kitchen. In this year’s budget, we’re proposing continued expansion of the Nibble program through the creation of a new Nibble Kitchen Manager position, converting the Culinary Arts Coordinator from a grant-funded to a City-funded position to provide more stability, and by investing $35,000 in equipment for the new kitchen.

Another investment aimed at creating equity is in our public art. Somerville knows well the value of public art: it is free and accessible to all; it builds a sense of place, community identity, and social cohesion; it contributes to economic activity, health, and tourism; and it brings beauty to our city and residents. To enhance our investment in public art, we are proposing an increase of $25,000 to launch a new public mural program and enhance the Illuminations Tour with some new light installations in our squares.

From out-of-school time to housing and cultural economic development to public art, the investments aimed at creating equity in this year’s proposed budget mirror our community’s shared values. They, of course, provide just a highlight. We’re working on other budget priorities too like ramping up recycling in schools, providing additional protective equipment for firefighters, adding staff positions to help during unprecedented construction projects, and more.

As equity advocate Angela Glover Blackwell said, without equity there can be neither progress nor prosperity. Thoughtful investments in some of our most vulnerable groups will cascade up and out into a greater investment in our entire community. By submitting a proposed budget that is committed to equity, based on shared community goals and values, guided by our dedication to fiscal responsibility, and strategically designed to meet both our current needs and our long-range obligations, we’re paving the way for a bright future for all Somervillians.

To learn more about the FY19 Municipal Budget, visit www.somervillema.gov/FY19budget to review the budget and get updates on the availability of the City’s interactive FY19 Budget Explorer.