Mayor Curtatone addressed questions posed by members of the Somerville City Council regarding hiring transparency issues as part of the FY20 budget development process.

By Erin Nolan

The Somerville City Council debated the transparency of the budget for the 2020 Fiscal year at a recent special meeting, held on Wednesday, June 5, in which the budget – amounting to some $254,654,111 – was presented by Mayor Joseph Curtatone.

Ward 2 Councilor J.T. Scott called the budget the “least transparent document this city has put out since 2006” during the meeting, while the mayor described it as “one of the most transparent documents in the Commonwealth.”

According to Ward 1 City Councilor Matthew McLaughlin, every budget is supposed to include the names, salaries, and other information of all city employees. This information was not included in the FY20 budget. All of the city councilors who spoke on the issue agreed that this information is helpful to them.

The mayor argued that this change was made in order to be more consistent with other communities and in response to requests from city employees for more privacy.

But McLaughlin said he was suspicious of the timing of this decision. “Last year, during the budget season, we requested budgets in advance and there are positions which aren’t technically funded by the city or grant funded,” he said. “We asked for the names of those people, and I was very, not so surprised to see a lot of people with familial connections to other city employees, and you know, maybe like the qualifications weren’t there that would have been if we had been aware of who was having these positions.”

The proposed $254,654,111 FY20 budget hearings will continue throughout the month of June.

The information also allows the council to see which positions are currently unfilled or may become vacant in the near future.

“That’s a concern to me. This is the first time this [the names not being included] has happened since 2006, as [Councilor Scott] said,” McLaughlin noted while referencing a talking point by Scott during the meeting. “And it probably goes back even further; 2006 is just when they started this format. It feels strange that they’re making this change after we had this issue last year. So they’re saying this is about safety or whatever, but it seems to be the opposite. It seems to be protecting people who maybe don’t deserve that protection.”

“We want to know that these people actually qualify for their jobs,” he said.

Councilor At-Large Stephanie Hirsch said that while she sees the value in having this information, she understands why the city decided not to reveal the information.

“I do remember, in being a [city] employee for several years, that it was sort of awkward to have everybody’s salary listed,” she said. “Though I was also surprised that it was not included, but I can understand why there is an argument to not include the salaries.”

After the meeting, McLaughlin expanded on his thoughts about the budget. “I would say the most important aspect of the budget is for it to be transparent and for us to get all the answers that we asked for so that we can make informed decisions,” he said. “And I feel like what’s happening now, and what’s happened in the past, is we don’t get transparency. It makes it difficult for us to make decisions. And then we’re left with the decision of, do we just arbitrarily make cuts and possibly hurt the province? Or do we just let this lack of accountability move forward? So that would be the number one concern to me. It’s just like, we want to know what people’s money is being lost. And right now, I’m not getting the feeling that we’re going to have that information.”

Mayor Curtatone told the Council that the administration would provide them with additional information and that, hopefully, this new information would be sufficient in helping them to perform their due diligence.

“We are committed, and all the vacancy information will be provided to the Council,” the mayor said. “We are balancing privacy, but not at the sake of transparency.” He called Somerville “probably one of the most transparent communities in the United States.”

The budget hearings will continue throughout the month of June, with cut night(s) and final approval scheduled for June 25, 26, and 27. The hearings can be viewed on Somerville City TV (channel 22 on Comcast, channel 13 on RCN), and online at http://somervillecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/. Updated information as well as a downloadable copy of the current proposed budget is available on the city’s website at https://www.somervillema.gov/fy20budget.