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)

We use lots of state-of-the-art tools to prepare our municipal budget every year, but we still rely on old-school methods – especially our ears. Our proposed Fiscal Year 2017 spending plan, which I submitted to the Board of Aldermen on June 7, reflects the role that your voice played in drafting it.

Though technically a document outlining what a city plans to collect and spend, a budget is also a portrait of a community’s values. By telling us over the years what you want for Somerville, you’ve had input even if you didn’t enter any numbers. We listened to you—and to your aldermen—and kept you in mind while preparing it. You put a high premium on education, our children, our fields, equity and inclusion, our most vulnerable residents, and sound management of your tax dollars. So does our $207 million operating budget, which marks a modest 5.6% increase over the expiring fiscal year.

Once again, our public schools represent the largest single expenditure in the budget. For FY 2017, we plan a 4.6% increase in education spending, investing in both our students and the buildings and equipment they need. The Somerville Public Schools have made tremendous increases in test scores and academic achievement in recent years, and we aim to keep the momentum going.

In particular, we propose investments to increase student access to technology and their mastery of it as well as other programs targeted to specific needs. Proposed items such as our maker space, fab lab, robotics programs, digital teacher tools, online tools for at risk students, and hiring a technology innovation specialist will help us prepare our students for the 21st century economy. Additional school investments include key needs such as more SAT prep support, additional pre-K capacity, more afterschool programming, and special education expansion so that more of our special needs students can stay in our district— and in their community—and gain back the hour they lose daily now commuting by bus to outside schools.

The heavy demand on our athletic fields is proof that you want Somerville to be a great place to play as well as learn. We also heard your calls for improvement on that front, and our budget calls for $327,000 to create and fund a new dedicated field maintenance crew under a newly formed Parks and Recreation Department that will strive to meet the highest standards for field care.

Restructuring doesn’t end with Parks and Recreation. We want to spend your money wisely, and to that end we’re trying to become more nimble by shaking off old department structures that don’t work anymore. I’ve called for administrative orders to merge Water and Sewer into a standalone department, to create a Fleet Division under DPW to consolidate the care of our city vehicles, and shift Engineering under Capital Projects where it can best coordinate on long-term projects.

We’ve seen time and again, that our most robust community planning processes deliver plans that best reflect our shared values and goals. But gathering resident input is time intensive. As we develop plans for Union Square, Gilman Square, Winter Hill, InnerBelt and Brickbottom, we’re proposing to hire a Community Outreach Coordinator for Planning and Zoning to ensure you are informed and heard.

We’ve also heard your concerns on housing affordability. We must work with our neighbors to address the Boston metro housing shortage regionally while we enact effective programs locally and we have multiple programs underway. To aid these efforts, we are proposing the new position of Inclusionary Zoning Specialist to facilitate the creation of new affordable units and help residents access those opportunities.

We will ultimately be judged by how we treat our most vulnerable citizens. We have asked to hire a social worker to address the needs of Somervillians at risk of homelessness or otherwise in need of social services. We are also seeking to fund seasonal staffers for our mobile farmers market, which provides fresh foods at low cost to families who most need them.

You spoke up loudly for social equity and inclusion both at our planning processes and during our Conversations on Racism series. To advance your suggestions, our budget also proposes support for an Equity and Inclusion coordinator to develop our diversity plan and review policy through an equity lens.

You made it clear that you want Somerville to do its part to address climate change. We heard you. We plan to be carbon-neutral by 2050. To get there, this fiscal year we are proposing to add a Sustainability Coordinator to help us develop and execute our Climate Action Plan. This new staff member will conduct sustainability efforts that will help make Somerville a great place to live not just for us, but our children and Somervillians yet to be born.

Meanwhile, we know you expect and deserve high quality core services. Nuts and bolts new positions proposed with that goal in mind include a catch basin cleaner to reduce flooding, a sewer worker, a night custodian, and a fleet mechanic. As always, our aim is to enhance services for you while still getting more bang for the buck than most Massachusetts cities including Boston (which spends 29% more per capita) and Cambridge (which spends nearly twice as much per capita). Efficient delivery of excellent services—and the programs you ask for—is always the goal. This proposed budget will maintain our strong practices, but we welcome more ideas. You’ve got our ear.