[Music] Good evening everyone. Good evening. How are you? Wow. I've never seen this many people show up for one of my budget presentations. I've done this many times, not just for the city of Chelsea,
but I've done it um for the town of Arlington where I previously worked. and um it was uh not many times people want to hear the numbers um nor ask question or be part of a budget process. So it's it's great to see that all of you are
here. Um tonight um this is our second budget session for the fiscal 26 budget uh for the city of Chelsea. And um this is the the first series of series that we've done this um last this is the
first year or first time ever actually I I believe doing it prior to going on city council and uh trying to gauge feedback and from the community. Um so the first time I kind of went through the slides and I believe we have a
certain time limit here. Um, so I'm going to try to explain the budget as best as I can while allowing for questions to be asked and for clarification. I also have up here um some of my team members of the finance
team at city hall. Um, they were not expected to sit up here. They usually would try to hide in the background as we normally do with our numbers work. Um, and so, but since we have a good crowd, I prefer them to sit up here and
I'll introduce each of them. So, we have the city treasurer collector, Patrice Montifus. We have our senior financial analyst, Alicia Oriana. We have our director of budget and grant
administration, Mr. Edun. And we have our chief assessor, um, Mr. for James S for [Applause] James. And I think I'll give you my name. So, um, my name is Michael Mason.
I'm your deputy city manager for the city of Chelsea and I work, uh, directly under the city manager, Adidel Maltz, and I am, uh, overseeing the financial operations of the city.
Uh so tonight uh we will get into um our budget process. We'll explain a little bit of the the timeline of the budget, how it's developed. Um we'll talk about our key priorities. Um we'll also get into and
instead of me looking back, I have these notes here and I just look at um we'll go we'll touch base on how we're funded the revenue overview. We'll look into what we use the monies on and then um we'll look at some of the highlights and
you know what we're looking to add um to provide better services for the city of Chelsea. Um and then we'll tell you what the next steps are in terms of the budget development process and as well uh offer opportunity for questions and
answers if you if you I am so I've been doing this for a while. So if I do say something that you may not understand or you do not hear me please raise your hand. I will ask you to, you know, state
your name and ask me the question or ask me whatever you're looking for me to clarify and I will try to take a step back. Don't be shy. I'm sure that others in the room might have the same question
if you're thinking about it. Um, but if you have a general question to wait at the end, you can sure do that. So every year we have we every year we usually have the same budget policy objectives and the main thing in our roles is to make sure that the city has
a sound uh budget and we're in a great financial position and uh you know part of that I mean everybody I'm not sure the age levels in here but when you get to a point when you're looking to like
get a house, get a car, make any large purchase, lenders usually look at your financial position, your credit rating, your credit scores. And so the city of Chelsea has a great a great credit score, the highest probably that we will
likely achieve uh due to due to certain criteria that they look at. Um and so we our goal is to make sure that we maintain that. And so we have to be fiscally conservative when developing the budget, but also what services can
we put in our budget or what initiatives to focus on economic development. You know, some of those can look in look like different ways. How do you attract people to the city to come live here? How do you make housing more affordable?
Um how to improve the quality of life for all residents and and also businesses. So it's not just about the residents, there's also businesses that do reside in Chelsea that contribute to the economy here. And that's the same thing. So
talking about neighborhood enhancements, how can we improve our neighborhoods? How can we make them feel safe? That's public safety, you know, how and and then how do we make the the process transparent? How do we make government connect to the people and that's the
governmental philosophy, right? a transparent government like tonight I'm here with my colleagues to present you the budget and looking to get feedback or looking to hear your questions or maybe even hear your concerns. Um what I
will say is that this budget here from our point um is as close to final until city council can make changes. Right? City Council may suggest that we may go back to the drawing board and may not vote to approve this budget if they
don't agree with it. But we'll talk about this process. All right. So, we've this is a long process. I mean, we've worked on this starting back last August. We have a couple parts
of our budget which include a capital budget which looks at how do we improve our buildings? How do we improve our equipment that we use every day? That could be computers and whatnot. How do we improve the schools? Um how do we
improve the roads um to make sure that the roads are safe and any infrastructures that may be underneath the roads? That's all comes under our capital budget and we started working on that last August. We work with several um department heads to go through a
needs assessment phase. Um and and then sorry give me a second I can't get any bigger. I'm getting blind by age.
Um so we then looked for the that those needs assessments were all submitted in October, right? So department heads submitted all the requests. We would then later interview the department heads to determine whether you know sus
out any any real needs and whether we we can postpone certain things, defer to later time frames because we only have a limited amount of money that we can spend to be responsible to the taxpayers of the city of
Chelsea. After we complete that, we make a a budget book with our communications team. Some of them are sitting in the back here today. Um and and um we then put out a presentation in December for the capital budget. We then
move into the operating budget, which is the budget that most of you will probably have some level of experience, right? Um which is whether you see the trash being picked up outside. That's part of the operating
model. um um the police officers that may be in schools or that you see on the road that's part of the operating budget. So um we then uh start that process in
January um where we are working with departments to identify what the operating needs are. They similarly submit requests if they want to add to the budget. they maybe they want to add a new position like a role that will
work with the community. Um we then will then go through a process of looking at some of the contractual obligations. We also have current employees that are getting paid and we will ensure and look look at we make sure we have enough uh
funding to cover any of their cost of living adjustments or needs. um we go through that process to come together with uh a budget that's drafted in the middle of February to March time frame
and um we then prepare to for publication that we have to get it to the city council by a certain time. The schools have to give us their portion of the budget by the city charter by April 2nd. We have to give the the city council um our budget by May 2nd, which
is what you're hearing this evening is the budget that we have submitted to city council. City council will then have a set of budget hearings in uh May, I think May, I mean May 12th till May 14th um where they will hear each of the
department budgets. Um, and the community also gets a way to consume the budget and if there's any concerns, they can raise it to the to city councilors. And then hopefully the city council will approve the budget um June 2nd of 2025
for the we can have a budget to start services for July 1st. Any questions before I move forward? All right. Is everybody awake? cuz I'm sure some of this stuff could be boring or maybe it's a trustedness in
some of you. Um so for fiscal 26 the budget we had key priorities that we wanted to focus on. So one of the main focuses was on public safety expansion. Um we made some changes to how our
police schedule works and and operates. You'll hear more about that. But we had to add um additional an additional position to cover that new schedule which is in hope will will reduce the amount of overtime that we pay out to
our police officers. We also improve their morale um to make sure that reduce burnout because they do work sometimes longer shifts but people will call out. We also are looking at hopefully in
the future um we're trying to add an additional fire engine for the city of Chelsea to address um the response times for the fire department. We got a lot of fires last year um and so Chelsea is very uh densely populated. So it's very
important to make sure that we can respond to emergencies and um so this is an efforts to improve the response times and so you'll see additional uh resources there
um as an organization right so we're talking about the departments and how they serve you we also look at how we as an organization we're an organism right so how do we operate and how can we um if more efficiently operate. And so
in part of this budget is how do we restructure our departments, maybe reassign tasks in some circ circumstances to operate more efficiently to be more responsive to the citizens needs as well as any other constituent or vendor that we may work
with. Um we're also looking at um part of that is like where are places where we might have contracted out work, right? So there's a couple ways to get services done, right? We
could hire people, hire employees. Um and that comes at a cost where the salary and the benefits that come with that which include health insurance and their pension and whatnot. And then or we can say it could be a small business
or any a large business that maybe we want to contract out. So um Department of Public Works had previously contracted out their mechanical work and um you will um see that we're trying to bring that in-house to put cost savings
in the long run. So it was a net mutual. Um, you'll also hear us talk about the rising cost of healthcare and um, we've put a lot of money in investing into our future, our students um, by substantially um, increasing the
education budget um, and to support the needs of Chelsea public schools. So, I'm going to get to numbers. How many of you in here like numbers? Raise your hand. All right. Not many, huh? How many are
you are good with money, would you think? Okay, that's fair. That's fair. I like that. And so, um, so part of the budget is like budgeting and having a plan. And so, our plan for this year for fiscal 26
is we're going to have a general fund budget, which is our general operation for the city services. So, that I'll go into what those are. Um, I've talked about some of them already. Um, that's about $110 million, which is an increase of $6 million over last year. And we
pride ourselves cuz last year's budget, we added about nine positions and we had a 6% budget increase. And as times are, you know, we times in the future are uncertain. So, um, we understand that we need to be more conservative. So our
target for the city side was to be under what we asked for in terms of percent increase last year which is at 5.8% increase. The other part of our budget is the education budget or school budget and the school budget is going up over
$10 million to over to over $150 million. Um so they're seeing about 10 $10.5 million increase. um where they're going their budget go up 7 12%. And a big part of their budget increase is
tied to 80% of their budget is tied to salaries. So um you know they have to address the needs of the the prof the professional teaching staff and pair professionals those they went for negotiation contract negotiations. So
this is we hope that we know that we can support the education here in Chelsea. And this is over our last year's bud. So our total budget for this year is going to be $261 million and um a little $700,000. And this is compared to last
year's budget of $245 million. Um anybody have any questions about this? So, we talk about our budget, but how do we get our money, right? How do we how are we able to afford these things, right? How are we able to spend spend
$150 million on a school a great school system? Um, well, one way is that we have to collect taxes. So, we have residents and business owners or we call them commercial uh
property holders and and whatnot. They all contribute to pay taxes to the city of Charleston. And that is the top amount which is for fiscal 26 is going to be 100.8 8 million which is over
um 6.3 million over last year's request um of 94.5 million. So for those in the state of Massachusetts, um there is rules to how we can as
municipal leaders spend your money and we cannot um so the that total tax base from the prior year, right? We can't go only go over it by we can only we're limited to
request an increase of 2 and a.5%. It's called Proposition 2 and a half and that looks at the the total tax base as an aggregate. But there's other ways to increasing taxes um which include that when we we have figures called new
growth, right? So when a developer comes to the city of Chelsea and wants to build uh maybe pro a property for like to bring a business like I think there's a uh let's think about trying to think of
one that I can probably disclose but there's one that's going to be going into Admiral it's going to be a like a production um location where um that is a business that is an opportunity for the city of Chelsea to um get additional
tax credit when new apartment buildings come into Chelsea that are maybe rentals. Um that are opportunities when somebody has a house. This is the simplest one and they want to make adjustments to their house, right? Maybe they want to add something to their
house. Um addition to the unit is kind of tight, which will do that in some places, but it's possible. or any substantial adjustment where you have to go to inspectional services to get a permit, there's a possibility that you
can see a a change in your taxes and those are areas where it's opportunity for new growth. So other parts of this is we charge for services um that the minor minor changes most of
our revenue we try to level fund and also license and permits looking at fines and forfeitures. And these abouts are about $6 million in total, but they're not
substantial increase. Now, cherry sheet cherry sheet on here is showing that we're going to we're looking based on the the governor's budget. So the governor releases a budget towards the the middle
to late end of January, sometimes later on an election year. Um where this is state revenue that the city receives to provide services. including in that the largest portion of that is what we
called chapter 78 which chapter 70 is a formula used to provide equitable education across the commonwealth of Massachusetts um recently a few years back they have the student opportunity act which made
some adjustments to chapter 70 so in that 144 million about $122 million is coming from the state to fund education. There's unrestricted government aid in there as well as a few
other reimbursements. We we are level funding what we believe our Medicaid revenue so the school department can claim um make claims to Medicaid for services they provide to students. and this the federal
government then reimbures us funds. And so that's been level funded at about $400,000. It's conservative number. We might get more than that. We also have miscellaneous um about 1 million three a $1 million
increase over prior years. Um and that is us realizing that the market has been good for us in our investments. Um we've conservatively budgeted um the revenue forecasts for our
investments. We've over the last few years overshot that by a substantial amount of dollars which is helping us be uh financial financially healthy and build reserves which is always great to have reserves. How many of you have
reserves in there? I hope everybody raises their hand. Reserves are good in case bad times happen. All right. Um, but sometimes we we also have the state that reviews our financials and we don't
need to we don't want to straddle too far away from what we're actually collecting to ensure that we're not overt taxing the taxpayer. Any questions on any of these sections that I've discussed here? Oh, what are interf transfers?
Great, great question. So, inter fund transfers would include any transfer from special revenue um or parking meter receipts. Um when um we also have we budget for
transportation network charges which is essentially any like ride share that is originated in the city of Chelsea. Um we get a portion of the revenue that is generated. There's fees that they get assessed and it goes to the state and
gets sent to us. Um, we also have about $140,000 in school indirect that's budget. So from there's grants that we're uh awarded federal grants and and it could be a private
grant that maybe allow indirect charge to cover our overhead which the like administrative cost of the grant. So we're allowed to directly charge that that's in that collection of revenue. And then uh last but not least um any
sewer or water uh fight transfer would be included in that. That's a great question. Hope did I answer it? Awesome. Any other questions? I like that. That was great. I gave clarification. I think I skipped over that too. So thank you very much. Did I answer that good? Yes.
Very morning. All right. Thank you. They're here to hold me accountable. They're my accountable lights because I I might make a mistake or say something incorrect. So, I want to make sure I'm good. So, this is a a ser u a chart a
pie chart. There you go. Thank you. Who Who said that for me? Who said it? Yeah, there it is. I was supposed to say something else. So, supposed to say the donut or something, right? Um but this is a pie chart showing the if you go back to the previous the the revenues of
fiscal 26 5%. And um what's notable about this is that you'll see that over 50% of our budget is from the state. So it's not that the the taxpayers of Chelsea are paying a substantial portion
which they are. I'm not saying that we're not um we're paying about 38.5%. But a good a good amount of money also comes from the state and that was you would have saw that in the number breakdown. This is another visual way. So some people are more visual. So this
is a visual way to demonstrate you know the importance of a state fund. So if something impacts the state level it's going to impact the city of Chelsea. So right now we use the governor's budget numbers to budget what we forecast what
we expect to receive as revenues. There's the but the the governor's budget is not the final budget from state of Massachusetts. It goes through a process. Now, in most years, it doesn't necessarily um we don't see reductions in those
state numbers. Sometimes, more likely, like the chapter 70, there's increases as it works its way through the pro the budget process at state level. But, uh, in when this harder years, this is something to be concerned, especially if that's one of our our our big pots of
money that we should be concerned about. Um, as you can see, um, one of one of the things like I I work at city hall and I'm actually in a process of appealing a ticket. I always,
um, I complain about tickets. I know a lot of people complain about tickets, but it's a way to ensure safety around the city in some areas in terms of traffic movement um if somebody is parked incorrectly. It's also a way to
um ensure that businesses see turnover of customers in certain hightra areas. So, um but that's not our way of making money as a city. It's a way to try to help the local economy and safety of the
city. It's less than a percent of the budget. So those under um fines and forfeits, it's 0.9%. We're So if you see somebody out there with the the yellow jackets ticketing your car, that's not something
that we're, you know, trying to find drive revenue. And even I get upset at sometimes, but it's more I'm upset at myself um for letting myself get the ticket. Um, so, um, and we're we we're pretty fair about that. So, I don't think anything else about
this particular slide. Any questions about this? Anything I've said this far? All right. So, this slide is an overview of all of our expenditures and how we uh support
the city and by major categories. So, um, general government is seeing an increase about $147,000 to $9.47 million. Public safety is seeing a
substantial increase of $2.3 million. Um, going from to 33.6 million 33.6 million. Um, as I spoke about earlier, our education budget is increasing.
um go to 153.7 million. Um and and so the increase was about 11 million. Now, if you saw earlier, I said Chelsea public schools is increasing by 10.5 million, but there's also regional schools in our education figure here. Um
and so that's also seeing a substantial increase, and we'll talk about that later. Um Department of Public Works is going up by $196,000. Um and that's uh a modest increase of the $10.3 million budget
that we receive. Um health and human services department. So that includes like the senior center here. Um their budget's going up about $166,000. We um are seeing a substantial increase in
our debt service. Um, and that's going to go up about almost $700,000 year-over-year. Um, up to about $3.1 million from $2.4 million. If you if you are paying attention from the first budget session, um, there might be
some people that are on Facebook that are part of that or will that watch it later on on Chelsea Community TV. Um, we did were able to um um try to uh renegotiate of uh some of
our debt payment schedules. Um, and so that number is actually a change from the last budgets um budget presentation in in favor of the city. employee benefits is increasing about a half a million um half a million up to
20.9 million. Uh our state assessments uh that would include like charter school assessments um and plenty of variety of other other charges. It's increasing about $1.1
million to $24 million. And then last but not least, we have other category. There's always a lovely other category. It's pretty much double finding. It's only increasing about $30,000. Is there any specific questions? You might get clarity on the
chart, the the the slides that I could come after. Um yes. What are employee? What are employee benefits? So employee benefits include That's a great question. Include um items such as
health insurance. So, we offer health insurance to all of our our uh full-time and um certain part-time eligible employees. Um as well as that looks at retirement. So, that's one way of people saving in
the future. So, retirement contributions, the city city portion is funding out of this area. Um let me see. Um, also in that is um our life insurance, a small amount that we that
we budget and set aside for life insurance. Um, as well as unemployment compensation and workers compensation. Um, so if that I hope that answers your question. I know you have questions. Any other questions purist?
Yes. Is that considered like [Music] So the health insurance opportunity. So yeah. So that's a great question. So he asked um is that also is it just for adults or is also for children as well.
Um so the health insurance that we offer is an offer for the adults that work here. But if if the adults have a family, right, they can also get a family option where they will cover we have we have insurance that will cover
the children of the employees. So it's not just for adults to answer your question. Great question. Any other question? All right, go back to where I was at.
Okay. So, any other questions about this chart? All right. So, similar to the revenue chart, this is a a pie chart to describe um how we spend our funds, right? So, I gave the table basically
and a substantial part um if you've been keeping up is over over 58% goes to education and most of that is for Chelsea public schools. So, I
believe our values is where we allocate our funds and how we spend. It's there's a phrase says put your money where your mouth is. Um, and so this tells me that we are investing substantial amount into the future of Chelsea. Um, with people
that uh are students that we hope that will remain here and give back to the economy. I will say that I was one of those students uh at Chelsea High School. I believe that we have another few Chelsea locals here that still work for the city. So, it's great to invest
in the future so that the future gives back, right? Um and we know that it's a difficult time. Um so that's that's very important. Our next largest our initiative is public safety. Ensuring
that our community is safe. So whether that's from our emergency management response when an emergency happens and you someone needs maybe emergency housing assistance or to a fire to um
any crime activity that may happen or just um engagement with the police for any type of incident. That's our next largest category. And after that is employee benefits is what we invest in our
employees and try to support our employees. All right. So general government was one of the categories which is $9.4 million in budget and is about 3.6%.
And these are the departments that are covered. And so of that is legislative, which is a department that you're that that serves the city councilors that represent you, your elected officials. Um the executive office, which is my the
department that I work for and the team back there that that work um that work with that work with with me. Um then we have the auditors in budget and grants administration. So once again um and I
want to commend um uh Alicia Oriana um and Mr. Ed Dunn for the uh tremendous amount of work and effort that they put in to develop this budget. I just get to come up here and tell you and sell you what we're doing, but they get to do the
dayto day and crunch the numbers to make sure the numbers work and are balanced. And they're a new department um through d through the through the one of the restructurings. So, I mean, if we all give him a round of applause, as well as my communications
team back there. Um, thank you. Um, and what we'll what we will announce at the end is a special project that these two teams have been working on in tandem with building this project, which I'm sure many of them
particular do all this work. this year. Um, but I think it's going to be great um for the future of the city and I really appreciate that. So, um, along with that is I procurement and assessing and all of these departments are great.
I didn't mean this and if if any of my team decides to watch me present this later on, I procurement I love I love my treasure collector and I love my assessor. you make sure that I get all the tax dollars that I need um to make sure I run the city and have a good
budget there. Um so general government overall, you know, from law personnel which is human resources to it, um central billing, the city clerk, licensing, housing and community development. These are the the
organizations that help oversee and run the city um operations dayto-day. And for a lot of organizations 10% is required to run a run an organization. 10% of the resources usually usually have 10%
overhead a lot of times. So 3.6% is actually a great figure because we're we are pretty streamlined to running a city of this size. public safety. I said it was like the number two initiative. Um 33.6 million,
12.8% of our budget. And that consists of the Chelsea Police Department, Chelsea Fire Department, Office of Emergency Management, um Inspectional Services, and the traffic and parking. Any questions about any of
these departments? I think they're pretty straightforward. education. So, education is an $153.7 million budget. Um, it's 58.7% of our budget. Like I said earlier, 150 million
is going straight to Chelsea public schools. And 2.9 million goes to regional schools, which include Northeast Vocational, um, and any related construction work to a new school that they're building. Um, what you'll see on here is a chart as well.
It's a bar graph. It's a stack bar graph. I got to stay on top of my chart game because someone told me that I was about to call something a circle graph. It was a pie chart. So, I'm going to make sure I get all the names right now. Okay. And but what this is showing is
um chapter 78 from 2016 to now. And what I mean by now is what what is currently proposed in the the governor's uh fiscal 26 budget and that is the blue. So you'll see that
substantial amount is covered by chapter 7 um which is state the small goldish color that is what our local contribution is towards education right and what I what I wish that I could have
captured in here is that there's an amount that we are actually over what's required so chapter 70 says yes the city of Chelsea has to pay this amount of money towards education We're about $5 million over the
bar. Okay. So that and that's we've each year try to grow that amount. So there's a a minimum net school spending requirement that we have to meet. Um and if you don't meet it, the then the state is looking at you and trying to come
back to back you get you into compliance on that. And what you'll see on this also is this is 2021. around 2022 um you'll see there's a big the substantial upticks that is the student opportunity
act. The student opportunity act was an act to to readjust the chapter 70 formula to increase allocations to education. Right? And so that was going to require cities and towns to pay more money to education as well as the state
to provide more funding to education. All right? And that was going to be rolled over a 7-year period. And I believe we are now in year six in fiscal 26 if I'm not mistaken. Am I am I mistaken? I think or you're not entirely sure.
Okay. They did some changes. They accelerated it one year forward, but there was a seven-year plan and you can see that that rule out from 21. Any questions on education? All
right. So, our Department of Public Works is about $10.3 million. So, Department of Public Works, everybody in a department that you pro most likely have seen, whether they're cutting trees
on the street that maybe may be hanging over or or dangerous um or whether they're trying to fix potholes. um to removing snow and ice during the
winter time uh as well as removing trash, you know, and I think some of you in your families either maybe have like trash barrels that you've gotten or you got you have to get the trash bags. It's all through a
program for removing trash. That is all covered through the Department of Public Works. And then as well as they manage all the city buildings. The schools have their own facility department, but the the Department of Public Works, they manage all the city buildings to make sure the buildings are safe and that
everything's operating. Um that you come in and you see a clean building and that you have nothing to worry about when you come to our our facilities. Health and Human Services includes um she she stepped out. Tracy
was here earlier and uh what was I don't see her my eyesight but she's the director of health and human services that oversees uh the health division elder affairs which is part of the senior center here veteran affairs um
the public library and the recreation and cultural affairs which uh handles um some a program that used to be called the community schools which is after school um a program that is after school in some
aspects, but it also provides adult learning opportunities. Um, and as well as uh an athletics coordinator that um and sport uh sports tourism uh role in that is to try to bring programs here to Chelsea to
provide programs for for the youth of Chelsea here. Any questions? I discussed employee benefits. I'm going to move past that, but that's about 8% of our budget. 20 over a little bit over 20 million, close to 21. And I'm going to go back to say so
all of this we are getting to a $261 million71,228 budget for fiscal 26 which is about $16.7 million over our last year's budget. And
so when I get new money I try to figure out how I'm going to spend new money. And this chart explains the substantial changes to the fiscal 26 budget. So as I explained from fiscal 25 to fiscal 26,
the budget increased to 16,699,91. And as I said multiple times, our substantial investment into Chelsea public schools, we've increased public schools budget by about $10.5 million. We have to pay our
employees. Our a lot of our employees are in collective bargaining agreements. Um they're in unions and the unions negotiate for their their behalf, whether it's the working conditions that they have or for their salaries and how they how they should be paid over the
course of time as they stay with the city, whether that's longevity or through steps. And so contractual obligation increases capture both cost of living adjustments to meet the hopefully have our employees stay within
the range of pay for due to inflation and then any step adjustments and any other contractual obligations that they've negotiated which is about $2.7 million. So this number was a little higher last time around um as we did some more calculation and balance of the
budget. This is the actual number that um from the previous budget session. Another adjustment from the previous budget session was around our debt payments and telp. Um tel was uh it was a financing um uh financial me tool
that we used to um on a a micro grid project. And um when you take out you when you pay when you swipe your credit card or you take out a loan eventually payments need to be made. And so um year
over year our our payments are our debt payments are increasing because um we have more debt that we've taken on that are rolling out but as well as this micro grid project is slightly increased but it's not as high as it was last
time. So, last time we was around $1.3 million. Um, right now we're around $692,000 increase year-over-year, which is pressuring my my budget and ability to do other things to provide services
to the community. Northeast Vocational School. Um, we are seeing a substantial increase in Northeast Vocational School. I'm not sure if anyone here had have attended Northeast Vocational School.
Actually, I do. All right. Yes. Nice. Right. And they have a nice new school being built. All right. Um actually u I just learned today um when I was reading um MSBA is awarded um this is the highest awarded amount that they've
given a school for a school project for a grant award. I think it's like over $140 million that the state is contributing to the project which is great but each community has to pay that's a part that sends students there. So, it's based on our enrollment and we
have the number two. We're the highest it's the second highest, um, community that's enrolled at Northeast Vocational. And so, um, there that is about a $88,000 increase over the last year's, uh, figure because of this debt payment
that we have to make for this year. This, like any like a mortgage, will happen over the course of time. I believe it's a 20-year commitment if I'm understanding, but once again, that could change. The amount will change based on how many students we have enrolled. So, if we have more enrolled
that go to Northeast in the future, which may be likely because it'll be a brand new school, right? That means that this number will likely increase in the future and something that we should monitor and be concerned about. Um, we also have with our
increase in retirement appropriation. Um um it's it's a modest increase, but it's still a substantial increase compared to other items. Um we also have about a 7.8% increase in waste removal cost. So it's substantial enough to talk about
it. Um and and it also impacted the budget. So we had to maybe reduce in other areas to make it work. Um we also last year we had a a year with a substantial amount of uh um
collective bargain agreements due for negotiation. So we budgeted a lot last year in our salary reserve. So what you're seeing as the positive number here of $737,91 is a actual reduction in our salary reserve need. We reduce it to
$200,000. We have one um group that we are currently negotiating with that will see a change in salaries for next year. Um everyone gets a change in salary but they just what we didn't know what the what the amount was cuz we are currently in negotiations. Um and that is almost
wrapping up. Um and then going back we had uh department that number is supposed to be a different number. So actually that's not a budget reduction. I'm there's an error on my slide. I caught myself and I should have caught it. And this really
is we're increasing department budgets by 575,000 before we looking at reducing um and um I'm going to double check this number. I got to double check this number. So hopefully me and my team can look at that cuz I I I may have made a mistake here.
Um, but that leaves us with about $563,000 to use for um, as you net all these from the $16.7 million to use for new additions, right? So, new things that we might want to spend money
on. But before we do that, we wanted to further squeeze some things that we can pull out. So, um, we are in the process of regionalizing our office of emergency management. Um, we have a position
that's been mainly unfilled for quite some time. And if we're regionalizing, we don't necessarily and we're meeting the needs of the, uh, of the the the citizens of Chelsea right now. Um, there's not a main a major impact um to the department by not filling. So, we're
removing that position from the budget. Um, we also our assessing office um after our chief assessor kind of uh assessed and looked at how his department operates, it was determined
that his team didn't need the extra staff person in the office. So, we are not going to fund a clerk floater position. This does not mean somebody's getting laid off. it was a position that was unfilled as well. So, uh that's
another FTE that we're saving. We also had a restructuring in human resources or personnel department and we're um reducing we're we are removing the part-time clerk and HR manager roles and
you'll see on the next slide there are two additional roles that we're adding back to that department and they're actually going to see an actual FTE increase. So, after doing the math, I gave myself a little about $800,000 to work with for
ads. So, I told you those two positions that we eliminated from HR. They were positions that we either didn't fill or someone left. And then we rethought about it about how the department should be structured. um for we we created a
full-time human resources assistance position to better support the hiring needs of the city um and support personnel um management and human capital management um as well as an assistant director. This is hopefully to
help with succession planning but also build capacity in the department on on the police side. we've decided on um to uh and it's already happened this year. We cuz we made a change in starting in January to the
schedule. So schedules move to a 4x4 schedule which means police officers will work four 10 hour shifts and on and then they have four days 4 days off. Um and this is uh um it's been so far been
taken all the lighting department but it required an additional position to make that schedule work as an additional sergeant. Um and that is that FE outlined here. We also to add an additional engine is we need to add four
firefighters as we discussed earlier. So that's about $334,000 that we estimate that will cover that cost of the salary. That doesn't doesn't look at like the other benefits. And none of these costs look at the benefit side of things. This is
those numbers are already built into our our benefit our employee benefits number, but these are was just the direct salary uh estimations. Um, one of the areas where we, uh, reduced the budget, um, we reduced mechanical
contractor services. It's not an actual position, um, reduction, so we didn't include it on the budget efficiencies, but, um, we estimate about $115,000 um to cover a mechanic supervisor and a
mechanic position to add to the budget. Uh the other portion now they say it's 0.7. All of these positions are general fund positions. We also which is the the our general budget. There's also there's going to be a portion that's funded from
water and sewer. Um that's going to be the other point other 30% of the position. So look at these numbers as here as 70% of the position is being or positions are being funded from the general fund. 30% is going to be funded
from another funding source. And then last but not least, um one of the funding sources that we received due to the uh CO 19 pandemic was the American Rescue Plan Act um funds which also
known as ARPA. And we used some of those funds previously to fund services that were directly supporting the community here. One of those was a community um health worker. And like all positions, when we add positions through grants, we have to
evaluate and assess to see is it meaningful and has an impact to the community and can we afford it. And this was one of those positions that they said, "We really need this position. We want to keep it." And so, um, it's no longer being funded off of ARPA, but
we'll bring it on to the general fund. Any questions about any of these new additions? All right, we're getting close. So, what's next? So, I said we were going to announce something today. Um, the
budgeting and communications teams have been diligently working on a new website that's going to be hopefully eventually interactive. I think it's going to be pretty interactive on right at launch. Um, where you'll be able to go through our budget. is be more transparent for
you to see things and not have to go through a PDF or a booklike document and you can jump and focus on the areas that you want to focus on. It took a lot of work for them to do this and we confirmed today that it will be ready for the end of April and uh it'll be on
our city website with a link. The same software will be used to help our department heads to actually efficiently develop the budget going forward. So there'll be a lot of time savings in the future. So, this will save us a lot of a good amount of uh uh man hours from working and we can do other other
responsibilities and clean up some other uh financial items. So, thank you guys. Great work to the team. Um we will have our budget hearings May 12th through the 14th with the city council. Um that's the next part of the
process where they will get a chance to hear the budgets, hear this presentation as well um and meet um talk with each of the department heads and ask any questions that they may have um or hear any concerns the community may have. Um June 2nd
um is when city council has to um has to has to vote or respond to our our budget proposal. Um and we're hoping that they approve the budget. um to support our our next fiscal year and provide great services to the to the community. And
then July 1 is when our actual budget starts. Our budget goes from July 1 to June 30th. So we'll end one fiscal year and hopefully start fiscal 26 with the full budget appropriated by our city council. So at this point, um feedback,
questions, and I know I'm right at the time. Any any questions? concerns. Well, I'm glad I kept all of you awake for the most part. I mean, all Oh, got one. Yes. Do you you want to speak on
the microphone or something? [Music] Yeah. All right. Um, hello. I'm Beatatric. Um, it's not really a question that I have. Um, I just have some concerns that I'd like to speak about.
Um, I personally believe the budget should prior should be prioritized on public um, safety, especially in city in cities like Chelsea. Chelsea is a relative large town with its own public safety concerns that I p personally
notice. Public safety is meant to protect citizens from events that could endanger their security, cause injuries, or result in property damage. One issue I've heard a lot about is the condition of the roads in
Chelsea. Many people have complained about the numerous potholes and the city needs to address this by fixing the rules cooperating. Continuously repairing the same street is causing more problems than is solving. The focus should be on making
lasting improvements rather than quick fixes. Sidewalks are another area that needs attention. I've encount encountered issues that I've encountered issues with cracks, holes, and uneven surfaces, especially as we head into fall and winter. During these seasons,
the sidewalks are become very unsafe with people falling because they're either slippery or damaged. Proper proper maintenance is critical to avoid these incidents. Lastly, to ensure the public feels safe,
there needs to be more police present in Chelsea. There has been a rise in gang violence and and a growing concern for some time. I've even felt unsafe at certain moments, and I know others have too. To
make the community feel secure, the the city should um invest in more should invest in more law enforcement efforts and focus on prevent gang preventing gang related activities. Thank
you. You just um is there a way that you want to can I keep your your your note that you have and I'll share it. Thank you so much. Um, I really appreciate you coming up here and sharing that. Um, you know, we are we are indeed
investing. I Were you a little nervous? You were nervous, huh? Yeah, I saw it a little bit. I Yeah, just like me. I was nervous the whole time. When I saw everybody coming in tonight, I was like, "Oh, man. It was a big crowd." But um um I'm glad you got it out. You did very well. Um and uh
thank you for being brave and hopefully others may have some feedback or or share. Um this is the way you can make change. Okay. So um we uh we are like investing in public safety. Sometimes um
and you talk about public works. Sometimes it doesn't seem as though there's a method to the madness, but a lot of times there is. it just seems chaotic because there's multiple factors that go into play. Um, these questions have come up from our counselors to our
department public works commissioner. Um, and uh, she uh, answered that question before, but I will definitely share these concerns, you know. Um, and so yes, as as me as someone that comes to Chelsea every day, I I I understand and feel you on what you you brought up.
Thank you for sharing. Is there any other questions, concerns that you want to share? It's not really a question I have. It's a concern that I have. Um, and I come here today to talk about a few concerns that should be thought about when thinking about what we will spend and include with the budget.
Chelsea is a city is a city full of promises, but it also a city where many of our youth face real challenges. One area of urgent needed support for teen mothers. These young women often navigate complex responsibilities with limited resources. By by investing in programs that offer child care
assistance, educational support, mentorship, and safe spaces, we can empower teen moms to pursue their goals, provide for their families, and contribute positive positively to our community. In addition, we must prioritize comprehensive sex education for our youth. Too many teens in Chelsea
lack access to consistent, accurate, and inclusive information about their health and relationship. With the right education, young people can make informed decisions and avoid unintended outcomes like unplanned pregnancies and STI. This is not just about information. It's about equity, safety, and future
opportunity. Why sex ed? I chose sex act because not only does it affect a lot of people but it also affects the lives of young teens such as lack of sleep, sleep, work, breastfeeding concerns, hormones, stress, lack of doing their homework. School is very important for students, especially students who plan
on attending a college and then not being able to pay for the baby in old school is really hard for them to do since not all colleges give that opportunity for a free ride. Lastly, I want to strongly advocate for funding that expands recreational resources and programs for youth in Chelsea, whether
through sports, arts, community centers, or after school initives. These programs off offer essential outlets that build skills, foster positive relationships, and provide safe environments. With youth violence on the rise in many cities, including ours, it is more
important than ever to invest in prevention through connection and engagement. These are not just budgetary decisions. These are decisions about the kind of future we want to build for Chelsea. By supporting teen moms, expanding sex education, and funding recreational opportunities, we are
giving our young people the tools and support they need to thrive. Thank you for your time and your continued commitment to the city of Chelsea. Brian Brian, thank you. May I keep that as well? Brian, that was a great job. I appreciate that. Um, Briano, is that how
you say your last name? Yeah. Awesome. And, um, you bring up some valid points. What I will say is that on all of the, uh, items you brought up, none of those areas we have reduced in any such way. Um, we've, you know, had a lot of those
supports added via ARPA funding. Um and um we'll we'll take this these words and um consider that for this budget cycle um and the budget work that we do and as well as in the future budget years. Um so I think that's very important and I
hope to see you come back again and keep advocating. Um anyone else have any questions or uh they want to share anything that Oh, okay. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you. I'm sorry. What's your name? Dennis. Dennis. All right. There you go,
Dennis. Um, my name is Dennis Garcia. Uh, it's not merely a question, but more like a concern, more of like an opinion of mine. Yeah, absolutely. And one impactful way of city of the city Chelsea could use it budgets to benefit
the community is by funding youth community youth and community centers. These tenants provide a safe space for children, teens, and families, offering after school programs, job training, educational support, and recreational activities. Investing in such source in such resources not only helps reduce
crime and youth violence, but also promotes long-term social and economic growth. According to Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, communities with strong after school and youth engagement programs tend to see a reduction in juvenile crime rates. Chelsea, a city with high
percentage of low-income and immigrant families, would benefit from programs that keep youth engaged in positive activities during critical after school hours. In fact, a report by After School Alliance shows that for every dollar invested in after school programs, communities save at least $3 by reducing
crime and input, improving academic outcomes. Additionally, community centers can offer adult education, English language classes, and job readiness training, which are vital in a diverse city like Chelsea. As many residents are immigrants or non-native
English speakers, these services can lead to better job opportunities, higher incomes, and increased civic engagement. In conclusion, using Chelsea's budget to fund and expand youth and community centers would create a ripple effect of positive change. It would also strengthen families, reduce crimes,
support education, and help build more help build a more connected income community with improved benefits and clear need. This is a widely impactful um that was great. And what I want to say is that so there are some organizations in the city that already
offer some of the services. Um I think earlier about the um the teen pregnant moms um I think ROA I believe has some great services as well as ways to engage with the community. But what I will say is that in my discussions with the city
manager and I know that uh one of the state representatives Judith Christier is very um has been advocating for a youth center uh for the city of Chelsea. I think it's about finding the funds to do that. Um and we are committed to doing that but it's also about finding a
good location right so that's always going to be the challenge. Um and space is always limited and um it's a finite resource. But Dennis, thank you for for sharing your your um your points. [Applause]
There any other uh concerns, feedback or um questions? I want to say since we're we're done. Nobody saying anything else, right? All right. So, my name is William Palasios and I'm the youth program
manager. I just want to say thank you. Um, thank you to the city of Chelsea. Thank you to everybody put this together. Thank you to you for your time. Um, like you said, a little nervous. I think everybody gets nervous up here. Um, just want to let you guys know that we're not here to make you jobs harder. We're here to show the
youth how these decisions are made. Um, and let them know that their voice has power. You know, I think for some of us, we didn't find that out till it was too late. But you guys, I hope you guys understand that your voice has a power. And if you want to make change, you guys have to do it yourselves, right? And
with the help, with the help, right, of people like this, right? It's not going against each other. It's working together to make a better community. Um, so I want to give you guys a shout out, too, because I'm really proud of you guys for stepping up. I know it's not easy, right? Um, and I want to let you know that the
same at one point our friends here were in your seats and one day you'll be in their seats. You know, um, change doesn't happen in a day. It happens over time, right? And it's a great time to start. One day you'll be in these seats and one day you'll run this city and you'll, you know, you'll do what you
think is best for the town. So, like I said, um, thank you guys for your time. Everybody up here, thank you guys. And thank you guys for leading with love and respect. I really appreciate everybody in the room. Thank you. Oh, yeah. You know, I have a little one, too. So, you know, I
know muscles. Um, I'm not going to say anything further. I can't close out better than that. I think that's the way I can close it out. If CCTV decides to cut there, I'm glad to. All right. Um, have a good night everyone. Um, and I I'll be around if you want to ask any
questions. Um, but um, we have one more. One more. Let's go. All right. Come on. Got it, baby. Got it. Hi, my name is 15 years old and I live in Chelsea and I am a student from Chelsea High School. I care about being able to have jobs
available for you to attend. I'm here to speak about how we should work more on having more jobs in child. I don't think it's fair that kids want to be able to help their community and their families make money with their e they're too young or there are no spots for them to
work. And there are many jobs we can have in charge such as touring, local community centers, grocery stores, clothing stores, etc. And it's not even just about the money. Kids can have more places to hang out after school. They can create bonding. There's no other
immunity. They're getting prepared for their future, etc. and about not having spots for the youth to work. Instead of having a long list to be tested, we can just make everyone's life easier by having more options for places to work
at. And I'm sure many adults and teens see where I'm coming from with this topic because I heard many people talk about the same topic, but I never really seen anybody actually take the chance to talk about it with others. So, I thought it was only right for me to speak on it
so these changes can be made. I hope when thinking about the budget and what it should be spent on, you think and consider the new generation to come and create a difference. Thank you for listening to my voice and care for young youth like me.
It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you very much. Good. Good job. Yes, you did amazing job.
[Applause] Yes, we will consider all of these these things. I was once a youth worker. I worked for the collaborative at one point. I was also a youth supervisor as well for the collaborative. So, um I
know what these programs do and how how important they are. Um, so very very very um good points. Thank you very much. Is there I didn't I didn't mean to say we're closed after after uh his
comments, but um is there any other questions or feedback uh or concerns that want to be shared? All right. Um it's too late now. You guys were all going to be on TV, so that's great. You walked in here. Um, you're on Facebook Live as well. So, I
mean, it's great. You made history tonight. Thank you very much, everyone. [Music]