The City of Somerville FY17 budget is official set in stone, as of last Thursday, after a prolonged period of examination, discussion, and debate.

By Amy Swain

This week the Board of Aldermen officially reviewed and approved the budget for Fiscal Year 2017. The city’s Budget Analyst, Mike Mastrobuoni, outlined the plan, and along with Mayor Curtatone presented it to the board earlier this month. Many meetings these last few weeks have focused on appropriate spending, considering options and answering lingering questions. As of June 23, all proposals were approved.

The largest number approved was the request for $206,863,886 for the General Fund Operating budget. $19,801,150 was approved for the Sewer Enterprise budget. $12,797,907 will go to the Water Enterprise Fund budget, and $836,679 will be put toward the Veterans Memorial Ice Rink.

$2.5 million will be taken from Free Cash and put toward reducing the tax levy. $2.25 million will be allocated to the Salary Stabilization fund. Another $2 million will be taken from Free Cash and added to the Rainy Day Stabilization fund. The city aims to keep this at $4 million, and last year we removed $2 million to go toward snow removal. The movement of money this year will put the account back to a comfortable level.

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There are several other notable movements of funds. $25,000 will be taken from school custodian salaries to buildings and grounds salaries, a department that will be growing this year. $45,000 will be taken from sanitation and added to the highway accounts budget. $1.9 million will be taken from Salary Contingency and added to Salary Stabilization. $20,000 will be transferred from Worker’s Compensation to Training and Salary.

Each allocation and request was met with unanimous approval from all eleven aldermen present. After these matters were put to rest, Alderman at Large White proposed an ordinance relative to a mid-fiscal year report of municipal finances with next fiscal year’s budget projections. While he was in favor of all adjustments this year, he thinks that more involvement on the part of the aldermen earlier on could benefit and inform future budget proposals.

For any who are interested in further details, the budget proposal as well as a video of the approval meeting can be found on the city’s website.