By Alberto Gilman

The Somerville City Council Finance Committee hosted a virtual Committee of the Whole meeting on Thursday, July 2.

In the previous week, the City Council hosted a five-hour virtual public hearing discussing the proposed budget for the 2021 fiscal year on Wednesday, June 24 by Mayor Curtatone.

Many concerns from residents were voiced in reaction to the police budget, which called for a 60 percent decrease in funding. Somerville Police Chief David Fallon answered questions and addressed concerns from the City Council during the meeting. Over the course of the first two hours, Chief Fallon discussed several lines in the police budget leading to various cuts.

City Council Vice President and Councilor-at-Large Mary Jo Rosetti called for a motion to reduce line 558003 in the police budget by $85,000. Line 558003 is listed as Public Safety Supplies. This cut would be less than 15 percent. Calling for a vote, the motion was carried 10-1. Councilor-at-Large Kristen Strezo called for a motion to reduce $2000 from the proposed $4000 for line 542006 for Office Furniture. The motion passed with a final vote count of 8-3.

Ward 2 Councilor and Finance Chair J.T. Scott motioned to cut line 572001 titled Out of State Conferences by $2000. Ward 3 Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen addressed the cut by asking Councilor Scott for his reasoning on the motion with the previous cuts already approved of.

“I’m thinking of the Arts Council, which has a nearly 19 percent cut to their budget. I’m thinking of housing. I’m thinking of housing stability,” Scott said in the meeting. “I’m thinking about departments that really directly serve constituents in ways that have broad support in the city that are going through much larger cuts than the police ordinary maintenance budget. That doesn’t feel right.”

Councilor Scott proposed another cut to line 558012 titled Badges, Emblems, Trophies, Medals. The proposed amount was $4000. The proposed cut was $3,000 dollars. The motion passed with a vote of 6-5. Line 542001, Printing and Stationery drew a proposed cut of $3000 from the proposed $7,000. The motion did not pass with a vote of 6-5 against.

A total of accepted cuts came to $82,000 from the overall budget. There were no motions on the Animal Control budget. The E911 budget also received no motions.