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So on the Good evening and welcome to the special meeting of the Lawren City Council. Today is Monday, June 15, 2026. Uh pursuant to chapter 20 of the act of 2022, this meeting will be hybrid

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allowing participation both in person at the city council chambers as well as as well as remotely. We have uh two links that was uh provided to anybody that requested for the zoom uh to for the zoom uh meetings. This meeting is also being transmitted

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live uh through the YouTube Lawren City Council page as well as uh the Facebook uh lens city council page. Madame clerk roll. >> Councelor Gonzalez >> present. >> Council Miguel >> present. >> Council Marmal

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>> present. >> Council Fonte >> present. >> Council Del Rosario >> present. >> Council Reyes >> present. >> Council plant >> present. Council Vice President >> present. >> Council President Rodriguez >> present. Please join me for a moment of

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silence. Now join me for the pledge of >> allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

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justice for all. Now we are going to open public participation. The rules for public participation are as follows. You're going to have two and a half minute to speak. At the 30 at the 2 minute mark, you're going to hear a beep or an indication that you still

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have 30 seconds to go. Please refer to this council as a whole. The first person that we have on the list is H Malik. Name and address for the record, please. Humayun Mali, 53 Chester Street. Good

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evening, honorable members. We the citizen support all the parents you know demonstration of the support for public transportation of their children in the Lawrence public school. In the devic that passed by one of the honorable

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police officer injured. We pray for the safety of all the police officers. Lawrence police with the impeccable leadership by honorable chief Morris Agler doing excellent job to protect our citizen. Thank you Lawrence police for keeping Lawrence a safe city. Lawrence

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is a beautiful city because of our best DPW workers and leadership. Thank you for keeping Lawrence a beautiful city. We the citizens support our inspection department and their union. Thank you for excellent job. Lawrence public

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school with the impeccable leadership by honorable superintendent Raph Guerrero and excellent leadership by honorable director Buu doing excellent job. We support our teachers and the union. Lawrence will rise because of our

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teachers again. We support public transportation of all children of the Lawrence to the school. Lawrence always is strong. Lawrence always unite. We are proud of our veteran. Thank you for your sacrifices. Thank you for everything you

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have done for this nation. We we must hire two new position in our veterans department. We must create the best commission on elders. In this important meeting as we honor the police officers and the first responder we are thanking

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our firefighters with the impeccable leadership by honorable chief Delaney Lawrence police officer. Thank you for excellent job. We encourage this honorable council support the parents transportation of their children to the public schools.

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>> The next person that we have is my Ortiz name and address for the record. Good evening, Councelor Myra Ortiz, 45 Norris Street, vice chair of MEA. Um, I'm standing before you first and foremost as a resident of Lawrence,

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thanking you all for the efforts that you made this budget season to correct the errors of last season. I appreciate all of the notifications that we received, the public um opportunities to know when hearings are. It was a a a 360

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from last year's hearing. Now, what I want for the public record and for you all to understand is that the what is before you and the difficult decisions that we are facing didn't come with this year's administration. This comes with a history of mismanagement and not meeting

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the chapter 70 obligations for our Lawrence public schools. I stood in front of you as a candidate for the city c um Lawrence school committee and told you about an $1 million deficit with chapter 70. I stand before you now with

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the last check of a $19 million deficit of chapter 70 money. And now our children, our public school children counselor are being faced with needing sponsorships from New Balance to walk to school. Our eighth graders who are

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already intimidated about going into Lawrence High School, a very big place, are not secured transportation, which is a public good, which MEVA and in my position in MEVA, I've been working hard to be sure that we have adequate service

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with the fair share dollars that raise up one. And we didn't win these dollars for them to be misappropriated or for us to make up for Chapter 70 money. It's totally different.

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Our children need access, equitable access to the Lawrence High School. Our Lawrence school committee is already disenfranchised. We are under receiverhip and now we're under siege for our children not to have a safe path

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to school. Thank you. >> Thank you, councelor uh Ortiz. The next person that we have is Mercedes Hernandez. Name and address for the record, please. Good evening. My name is Mercedes

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Hernandez Rondon, president of six Hamlet Street. On behalf of the families of Ab Lawrence Academy as their parent teacher organization president, I am here today to express our strong opposition to the proposal to eliminate funding for school transportation for

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general education students in grade 9 to 12 who currently receive this service. Last year, current school year, school transportation was provided for more than 1,800 high school students. Continuing this service is critical to ensuring safe, equitable, and reliable

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access to education for all our students. Eliminating school transportation would create significant significant barriers to attendance, likely resulting in increased tardiness and asism and could ultimately contribute to higher dropups rates

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within our community. The city made a commitment to provide transportation for Lauren students in grade 9 to 12 and many families have come to depend on this service. For numerous students, school transportation is not a convenience. It is a necessity that

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enables them to attend school consistently and actively participate fully in their education. We respectfully urge the city and the honorable city council members to reconsider this proposal and prioritize the needs of our students by maintaining

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safe, dependable school bus transportation. Preserving this service is essential to en supporting regular attendance, academic achievement, and equal access to the educational opportunities that every Lawrence student deserves. We thank you for your

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time and attention to our request. And lastly, add that when school transportation is provided to students, they're safe because school transportation is an expansion of the educational building. Providing transportation to

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students using public transportation does not provide that safety for the students and the families. Thank you. >> Thank you. The next person that we have is uh Nicole Spring. name for the record, please.

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>> Good evening. My name is Nicole Spring, 36 Sterns abot families and myself strongly oppose removal of transportation for general students in grades 9 to 12 who are currently receiving it. We urge a city to fulfill its commitment to provide

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transportation to the high school students and continue provide to provide the school bus for our students. As mentioned previously, this drastic change will result in increased tardiness, absenteeism, causing students to miss valuable

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instructional time and ultimately diminishing the quality of education they receive. Presently, students additionally rely on school busing to get them to the LHS campus for the arts academy, theater, JOTC,

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GLTS after dark, sports, and LHS clubs. The decision to remove the school busing services will have a significant impact on the social and mental well-being of our children as transportation barriers may limit their ability to participate

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in school activities, extracurricular programs, and opportunities to engage with their peers. I urge you to make the decision to continue to provide the school bus transportation for our students to ensure their academic success and continued engagement in the

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school community. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. The next person that we have is uh Jay Perez. Name and address for the record, please. >> Jaye Perez, 688 L Street. It's an honor to meet and speak with you all today. My

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name is Jaye Perez. I am currently going into 11th grade at Abbott Lawrence Academy. I have lived in Lawrence for the last seven years of my life and am proud to call myself a Lawrence resident. In my time at school, I have applied myself to academics the hardest I possibly could. In addition, my attendance was great as I took the bus

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in the morning to the LHS campus. After being known as a hardworking student all my life, this year it all changed. As a student who lives in Lawrence, in North Lawrence, who goes to Abbott Lawrence Academy, I have been unable to receive transportation this entire year. As a

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result, my mom has had to pay countless lifts, Ubers, and taxis in order to get me to school because she can't take me. I also had to take a job this school year to be able to help me mama pay these expenses. Every week, my family spends $50 plus dollars to get me to

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school. What I also soon learned was when you order rides, they don't always come on time. So, I became So, I began to come late to school. I had meetings with the principal and teachers about my commitment to my classes. What happened to you? Why aren't you trying hard enough? My teachers were saying this to

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me and I was no longer being seen as this hardworking student because it seemed like I no longer cared because I was coming late to class. Except this year, I worked harder than ever. Without provided transportation, the amount of tardies began to accumulate. Now, in my personal record, I will always have lacked the commitment to come to school

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on time because of something I couldn't control. This affects my college acceptance. And without transportation for anyone, I can't even imagine how many more students will be affected by this. It feels like the work I did coming into high school has been nullified because of my attendance this year.

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Yes, my future has been forever changed. Right. The next person is Anel Dominguez. >> Angel Dominguez, 300 Canal Street. Um, Aisha Abdul, 59 Court. Um, hello. Hello everybody. Hello

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council members. My name is Aisha Abdul. Um, and this is Angel Dominguez and we are rising seniors at Abalance Academy. As senior class vice president and president, we serve to we serve to represent students at Abal Lawrence

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Academy. This year, ABBA has moved from the main campus in South Lawrence to the middle of North Lawrence. Many students living in South Lawrence rely on the buses to get here for to get from school and home. We are here today to discuss public

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transportation and its possibility of being removed. For many students, the transportation that the city provides is the only way school is accessible. Without transportation, many students within the Lawrence community will be unable to make it to school and forced

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to find new ways of arriving at school. Around around 3,000 students rely on buses every day in Lawrence in order to not only go to school, but come home. Additionally, many of these students rely on transportation for certain sports, theater, and other commitments.

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For instance, me, both me and Angel are a part of theater where we get to come together not only as students from LHS or from Abbott, but as a cast, as a family. But without the bus to get to Lawrence High, there would be no way we could participate.

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>> As students, our education should be the priority. However, without buses, getting to school becomes an obstacle rather than something that should be heavily accessible for all students that need it. For example, a junior at Abalance Academy says she has to pay

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upwards of $100 on Ubers per week alone, which discourages her and others fear for their safety while riding on the city's public transportation. >> Every day. >> Okay. Every day before school and after school, cars pile up, causing unmovable

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traffic throughout Lawrence. Without buses to get to school, the traffic would force students and parents to leave home much earlier to beat it. Besides the fact that not all students and parents may have cars to get to school, the carbon emissions from the

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excess cars will cause will affect the atmosphere in the long run. We understand that many factors We understand that many factors go into the decision decision decisions such as this. However, we hope that the district

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members hear our concerns and emphasize with students and parents within the large community that transportation is a necessity not a want. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. The next person that we have is John Regal. Hold for the end, please. Hold.

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>> Good evening. John Regal, 22 Hilltop Avenue. Um, I'm also the chair of the Republic Republican Committee in Lawrence. And I got many calls over the weekend. Uh, once everybody start seeing the the poster about the school busing

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problem. I don't have to say much because you guys seeing it here. The proof is here. People are not happy. Parents are not happy. I'm not happy to see the the bus going away if if it goes away. Number

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one, safety. Safety wise. How we going to make sure that our kids going to MIA? I'm not saying the MIA buses are are not good, but we need to think about the safety of the kids. A lot of kids doesn't feel safe going to school in some way or the other one. Now we're

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going to put this burden into the kids and to the parents to saying kids, hey, go take the go take the public bus. How they going to get there? Are they feel do they feel safe? Do they feel safe enough to make it to school? And when on

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the public bus, you know what I mean? Like the kids say, >> they they're going to have to spend more money. They're going to have to get there earlier. They're going to have I mean this is a bigger problem. Why fix why trying to fix something that is not

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it's okay is okay. It's not completely broken. Leave it the way it is. People parents are happy with it. Let's fix the problem. You know there's a problem. Fix the problem. But don't try to take something away that is there. Leave it

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alone. Don't take the money away from the kids. It's not for me, but it's for the parents. The parents are here. Look, look everyone, everyone of one, every single one of them right here. Look at them into the to their face and say you're going to take the public transportation away, the buses away so

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the kids could make it to the school on time and safe. Please tell me that. Once again, they're there. They're right here. I don't have to say much. Thank you. >> All right. The next person is uh flip

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Lami. Luani Herman >> Leani. >> Good evening. My name is Leani Herman, 334 Prospect Street. I am a rising senior at Lawrence High School. For many people, a school bus may seem just like another expense in the district's budget, but for many of many students in

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Lawrence, it is diff it is the difference between having reliable access to education and facing significant barriers just to get to school. Over 3,000 students depend on school buses every day to get to and from school. Taking away this service would place an enormous burden on students and families throughout our

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city. While some people while some may suggest that students use public transportation instead, we must consider the reality of that option. Many students would have to wake up extremely early to catch multiple buses and still arrive at school in time for breakfast and the start of classes. Breakfast

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programs exist because we recognize that students learn best when their basic needs are met. We should not force students to choose between getting enough sleep and having access to a meal before school. Another proposed alternative is walking. However, many students live far from their schools and would need to walk an hour or more each

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day. Expecting students to make these long commutes, especially during harsh New England winters, heavy rains, or extreme heat, is simply unrealistic and inequitable. We also remember that education extends beyond the classroom. Many students participate in sports, clubs, after

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school tutoring, student government, and other extracurricular activities that help them develop leadership skills, build community, and prepare for their futures. Reliable transportation allows students to take advantage of these opportunities. Without it, many students would be able would be forced to give up activities that are essential to their

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personal growth and success. Transportation should never become another obstacle pres preventing students from reaching their full potential. School buses are not a luxury. They are an investment in attendance, academic achievement, student safety, and e educational

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equity. Every student deserves a fair opportunity to succeed regardless of where they live or their family's transportation situation. I urge you to reconsider this proposal and work together to find solutions that preserve transportation services for Lawrence students. The cost of eliminating buses

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may save money in the short term, but in the long term cost to cost to family students, families, and our community will be far greater. Please remember that behind every budget decision are real students whose education and well-being are at stake. We are not asking for convenience. We are asking

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for access, safety, and equal opportunity. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you. The next question. >> Uh let's hold for the end. >> Let's hold uh to the end with applause. Justin T is the next person.

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Name and address for the record, please. >> Name and address for the record. >> My name is Justin Ton. I live in Fornham Street 99. This is my >> Andrew Feliz uh 5 Street. >> Hello committee. Regarding the scandalous scrutiny in our school's own

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system, we advise you not to remove the school bus tribulation as it will allow us to have the health and what we need in class in general. We have multiple days where we can't make it to school because it's cold and we can't walk in the winter. The snow was harsh this year

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as you might know and the heat is unbearable this year. Through that, we also would like to ask that you might be inclined to get rid of it because I don't know the money that cost to transport these buses actively. But walking in these weathers is not ideal,

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especially due to the snow and the ice this year, especially for kids who rent the scooters that they might buy. and not everybody can afford these scooters as well. So, it's not just because we can't walk. It's the fact that it's unhealthy and unhazardous to walk. We also would like to address some of these

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sidewalk issues that, you know, if we can't walk on or with the ice, it makes it unbearable to walk on them. Um, as well as the uh students that may take after school programs, we take sports programs, college programs or any clubs

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after school. We are starting varsity and we would like to have our teammates on the court or on the you know on the team as fast as possible as our teams count and we matter as a student government and we should be able to walk to school every single day and take the

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bus. The bus itself has its issues. Yes, we regard that but it is the only way students may have the way to go to school actively. I know some of my friends are not the always active going to school every single day but that doesn't matter as we are trying. Lawrence is healing as a whole and we

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love to see growth especially in LHS regarding its security and protection. The buses itself will be needed to let LHS grow. It its own thing and we should let it everything become you know safe. Was that my time to go?

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>> No, you still have 30 seconds. >> Okay. Um the buses itself will lower attendance rates which is something we all do not like in LHS. students, teachers, all suffer from having low attendance. And removing the buses will

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shut down any chance for HS to heal overnight. Even if we have security and up the bathroom quality, the fact that our students will be there to inhabit these corridors is horrible. Thank you so much.

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>> Wow. All these names are going to be submitted for the record. So now we are going to uh public hearing. Madame clerk here. No public.

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Madame clerk, please read the notice for item 22826 which is the proposed the proposed fiscal year 2027 municipal budget. Uh madame cler please read the notice. It's a long one so bear with me. Um,

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document number 228-26. Notice is hereby given that the Lawrence City Council will hold a public hearing on Monday, June 15th at 7 p.m. In said hearing may continue Wednesday, June 17th, 2026 at 7 p.m. if needed. The purpose of the hearing is to gather

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testimony, information, and public input concerning the proposed 2027 fiscal year appropriation order and appropriation order enterprise funds as presented herein for consideration of approval by the Lawrence City Council for the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Said public

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hearing to be conducted at a meeting of the Lawrence City Council in the city council chambers, 200 Common Street, Lawrence Mass. Notice of the meeting. Notice of the me shall notice of the meeting of the Lawrence City Council and said public hearing

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shall be published in advance as required by law on the city council website www. city city city of lawrence.com agenda center and the city clerk public meeting notice website at www. city of

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document center. The proposed FY2027 budget for the city of Lawrence to be presented for consideration and of approval is as follows. City of Lawrence fiscal year 2027 appropriation order. Commonwealth of Massachusetts in order concerning appropriations for the fiscal

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year beginning July 1, 2026. ordered that the following sums designated as personnel services, purchase of services, professional services, supplies, and other charges and expenses, capital outlay, intergovernmental, and debt services are hereby appropriated separately for each

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department in the general fund. and that seven million of the debt reserve to be appropriated to support the general fund operating budget. Sorry, I just the city council 54,500 thank you

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$520. Mayor's Office 1,166,264 Administration and Finance 4,794,181 City Attorney $797275 City Clerk Elections and Annual Listing 1,801,80, 20 $220

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Office of Planning and Development 1,768,299 9 Police Department $18,817,167 Fire Department 15,742,026 Inspectional Services 2,371,766 Emergency Management $15,000

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Lawrence Public Schools 317,451,163 3 educational assessments 51,243,879 Greater Lawrence Technical School 3,97,95 Department of Public Works 15,612,349. Cemetery $614,997. Health and human services 1,568,479.

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Library 1,736,582. Debt services 14,919,772. Intergovernmental Assessments 2,52,817. Employee benefits 31,513,27. Risk management $744,000. Other financing sources and uses is1,391,64

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for total general fund of 800 excuse me total general fund of $489,93,032. Less amounts not required to be appropriated as state and county assessments, which is a negative 53,140,83 for a total appropriated general fund of

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$436,762,949. City of Lawrence fiscal year appropriation order also includes enterprise funds for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in order concerning appropriations of the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026. ordered that the following sums designated as personal services, purchase of services,

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professional services, supplies, other charges and expenses, capital outlay, intergovernmental and debt services are hereby appropriated separately in the parking enterprise fund of the city of Lawrence. Parking garage lots and enterprises $1,320,520.

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ordered that the following sums designated as personal services, purchase of services, professional services, supplies, other charges and expenses, capital outlay, intergovernmental and debt services are hereby appropriated separately in an airport enterprise fund of the city of

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Lawrence airport enterprises $782,919. Order that the following sums designated as personal services, purchase of services, professional services, supplies, other charges and expenses, capital outlay, intergovernmental and debt services are hereby appropriated separately in a sewer and water

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enterprise fund of the city of Lawrence. Water and sewer enterprise fund is $21,897,293. Total enterprise funds of $24,732. A copy of the proposed FY27 budget in its entirety is posted on the city of Lawrence website at www. cityof.com

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document center view 52052 mayor's recommended FY2027 budget. A copy may also be viewed in the clerk's office 200 common street room 107 Lawrence Mass during normal business hours. Attest Eileen Okconor Bernell city clerk.

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Public hearing is now open for the uh item 20 uh item >> 22826 the proposed fiscal year uh 2027 municipal budget. Anybody that wishes to speak now you have the opportunity

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please make a line. >> Name and address for the record please. My name is Isma Rondon 6 Hanley Street. I am a parent or a student in the Lauren public school, president of ELP, a member of the school site council for

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the Lauren High Schoolmies, coordinator of the Hispanic Paring Group and a member of the Abbot Lauren Academy PTO. I'm going to continue speaking Spanish which is the primary language of the

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more than 80% of the family and the student in the Len public school and the community >> y You're welcome. >> Excellent. That's >> Thank you.

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High School. >> Good evening. My name is Isma Rondon. I live at six ham district. I am a parent of students. The next >> Okay. Those of us are representative sample of all the families of students in themies and programs at the Lawrence

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High School and the district schools. After meeting with families, providing them with information and listening to their opinions and concerns, those of us addressing you are spokespeople for the families and such as we have come here before you to present the voices of the

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families. Transport. The families of Lawrence public schools and the school community strongly opposed to the elimination of school transportation services and the city administration's decision not to include funding next year's budget to provide school transportation to 9th and 12th

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grade general education students who have been receiving this service since the construction of Lawrence High School in the south part of the city. I got it. We believe that taking away school transportations from these students, forcing them to use public transportation, among other things, could hinder access to the education to

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which our students are entitled, which could increase dropout rates. Taking away school transportation from 9th and 12th grade general education students also increases the risk of them becoming involved in various types of incidents and inappropriate situations

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which could affect the academic performance of our students and the performance of our schools that are still under the state control. Transport, the ELPAC, the Hispanic Parents Group, and the organizations that have joined together to express our opposition to the decision to eliminate school

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transportation for January education students in grades 9 through 12 have fulfilled our duty to bring the voices of families and the school community before you so that you so your decision on this particular matter aligns with the will of families and the community

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at large. Honorable council members, finally I would like to reiterate the families and the school community strongly oppose to the elimination of school transportation for general education students in grades 9 through 12. And we hope that your votes will reflect that the families of students in Lawrence public schools

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thinks and feelas. >> Thank you in advance for listening to the voices of families. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> The next person Order. >> Let's hold to the end, please, so we can

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move on. It's easier. >> 53 Chester Street. >> The next person name and address for the record, please. >> Homali 53 Chester Street. Good evening, honorable members. in this important budget hearing. We the citizen first of

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all grateful to all honorable member council for working so hard through the subcommittees after subcommittees hearing listening to all the leaders of all our city government. Your dedication and sacrifice in this important budget

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of season that support safety and prosperity for our city is really important. We are grateful for your hard work. Laurentian, proud of you and we thank you. Also, we the citizen are

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grateful to the honorable mayor Brian Deenia for po proposing the most citizen focused budget. The leader that always helping Lawrence have a safe and prosper. The leader is always working to

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have a better Lawrence. In this important budget hearing, we must know that transportation for our city of immigrant very important. As you know our education are the most important

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powerful weapon to change the world. This change in our city happening if we support transportation for the children of Lawrence because impeccable performance for the children of the Lawrence is possible. They attend the

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school in a regular way and does not burden our parents in a season that changes with the snow and ice with the heat. We respectfully request from this honorable council create a situation

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that parent of the Lawrence have a good transportation to their schools. We don't want to decrease the performance of our our our student. We don't want to fall from that behind because the a student get behind. So very important in

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this budget hearing we respectfully request provide the ample transportation for the children of the Lawrence. The next in this great budget is the police department. We must know the police department with a budget of a little

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more than 18 million one of the best police department in the nation. The union of pride and honor with the impeccable leadership by honorable Morris Agler doing excellent job to protect our citizen.

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We the citizen are proud of this union of pride and honor but for creating the championship of the first responder. Lawrence police officers thank you for excellent job. We must hire more police officers. The population of more than

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90,000 are united and strong with one say Lawrence police office. Thank you. Because of you, you and your dedication and sacrifices, we have a a strong and safe Lawrence. Lawrence Fire Department

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with the budget of only 15 million is a has a impeccable leadership by honorable Chief Delaney, one of the best fire department in the nation. Fire after fire, the brave man and woman of the Lawrence fire department. Always there

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to create the best fire department in the nation. We are proud of you. Every city across this great nation when you go visit the most important department is the veterans department. In this important budget hearing we must

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know the most important department in our city hall is our veterans department. We thank you for your service. Thank you for your sacrifices. There are two empty position in the veteran department. We have to listen.

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These are the people created freedom and justice for all America. In this important budget hearing, we must know that our veteran department need to fill two empty position in our nation. This great nation because of the sacrifices

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our veteran we have to pay attention to their needs. Lawrence public school with a budget of more than 300 317 million is one of the best public school in the nation. But right now we have problem

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with the public transportation of our children. And tonight this honorable council can make a decision make it available transportation for the children of Lawrence. Lawrence public school with the impeccable leadership by honorable director Buu, honorable

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superintendent Ralph Guerrero on a way to become the best public school in the nation. We cannot stop this progress for the city of immigrant. We have to know the children of the Lawrence because of our great teachers, because of our great

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education, they are able to go to the best universities and Ivy League schools. As the great leader Nelson Mandela said, education indeed the most powerful weapon to change the world. This change only possible if we support

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our teachers and the union. We the citizen tonight respectfully request do not interrupt transportation of our best children to the Lawrence public school. Children of the Lawrence in day important hearing. We must know that

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children of the Lawrence going to most prestigious universities. As Ben Franklin said, any investment in education has thousands of return. one of the most important department or

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DPW the best union of the man the hardworking people with a budget of only 15 million doesn't matter how bad weather it is how good weather that these hardworking department they're making Lawrence beautiful they deserve

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best compensation our inspection department with a budget of 2 million with a city of 90,000 we support them we need to we we need to hire more inspector. Very important issue that in Lawrence

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and now in this budget hearing we have a school that educating children of the of Lawrence as English as a second language. They are they are operating in this tonight in this budget for renewing the lease were very important to

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children that immigrant from another city to be educated. So we need pay attention to the education as a second language. Renew the their contract and lease for that department. Very important commissioner in this city

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hall. Honorable commissioner Rodriguez I as a citizen of the 50 years never see the revolutionary changes in admission accepting inclusion of the disabled people. Honorable Rodriguez has changed this city hall transformed this city

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hall. He is deserved to the best compensation that he has. He changed the meaning of the inclusion for the disabled citizen. As we said always, Lawrence always strong. Lawrence always unite. In this important budget hearing,

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we respectfully request honor the need of the citizen and par parent of this great city and allow the public transportation for the children of Thank you. Next person. >> Good evening. Excuse me. Good evening,

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councilors. Rich Russell, 34 Cross Street, numbers fanatic. Uh, I point out that the federal cost of living for people living on social security and military uh, disability pensions was 2.8%. Remember that, 2.8%.

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Uh this is from page 20 of the financial budget book. Uh let's see. Uh the administration and finance, they got a 6.45% increase. Uh the city clerk, uh this is not a slam at the city clerk's office.

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They do a wonderful job. 2.7. That's close enough to 2.8. Uh planning and development 1.3%. Wow. The police department, as understaffed as we are and the job

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that they're doing, they only got a 1.6% increase. The fire department, led by Chief Delaney, they got a.9% increase. Inspectional service got a 6.1%

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increase. I wonder why. Uh, let's see. I the only thing I'll say about the school department is we have to give them what they want. It's the state law. They send a blank check over and they say sign it. We'll put in the numbers. Let's see. Public works, they got a 2.1%

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increase. The cemetery, they got a 6.1% increase. I wonder why. Uh health and human services got a 10% increase in their budget. The library got a 1.8% increase. That

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was from pages 20 and 21. This is from page 28. This is the mayor's office. The mayor's office is trying to come out smelling roses, saying they cut this, they cut their positions, they cut their salaries. Uh

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they went from 10 people to nine people. But if you follow through the rest of the budget book, that one person that uh uh let's see, what was it? Data entry clerk making $68,640.

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He got slid or she got slid over into another department making about $65,000. Is that a gross savings or is that a gross injustice? I say it's an injustice. Uh, sorry. They went from uh nine employees to eight employees saying

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they saved $68,640 for a net savings of $27,66 in the budget depending on your financial finagling. Yeah, you did. But look at the bottom line. That 68,000 or $65,000 went elsewhere.

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Okay. Since the mayor started writing budgets or approving budgets, the city's budget has gone upund4 almost $144 million in five five budgets.

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That's that's almost $29,000 or $29 million a year. Uh, this budget increase was 4.32% versus the 2.8% cost of living. Last

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year's budget was 5.93% increase versus a 2.5% uh increase in the co federal cola. Uh, the 25 budget that was an 8.42 8.42% 42%.

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And the federal cola was 8.7. Okay. So, you guys were close. Uh FY24 9.1% versus a 5.9% cola. Why why don't politicians make it a law

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that city budgets have to remain within the cola the federal cola because they can rob the they can rob the taxpayers blind. Okay. So in conclusion,

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Google is projecting a 3.8 to 4.7 uh cost of living increase for next year. assuming a 4% cola and based on the city

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percentage increasing by about 50% more. So, we're looking at about a 6% increase in the city budget next year. The city budget is going to hit $520 million. Half a billion dollars for seven square

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miles. Come on, let's be real about this. Uh, has that money really helped the citizens of Lawrence or has it helped enrich certain employees? Think it over. Do your duty. You were elected to

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represent us, the citizens. Do your duty and think of us, not the people upstairs, not the power brokers that want to make Lawrence what they want. Think of us. We're the ones that have to

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foot the bill. Uh bottom line, the city budget should have to stay within the federal cola limits. That's that's my opinion. I'll stick with it and I appreciate the time to express my concerns. >> Thank you. The next person order.

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Next person, please. >> Clinty Roas for Union Street. Uh, may I have a translator, please? >> Sure. >> I'll save you my broken English for another moment. >> It's not quite broken. I'm saying that they're reducing the

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budget for the school kids just um just picking them up at the bus stops and leaving them and bringing them to school. I'm sorry. Address. Oh, close it. You just all right. Oh my. I was like memorizing everything

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and I'm repeating it. You've never seen the faces of kids that have never been to the museum museum of science. You've never seen the faces of kids that have never been to the aquarium >> because their parents >> I say Union Street.

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Some people don't really because some parents don't have the resources. Maybe you do have the Oh, because some parents don't have the resources. Maybe you have the resources, but some parents don't have the money or the time to take their kids to those certain

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>> You never seen uh seniors going to the to this place in Boston to pick up their dresses, makeup, shoes, everything. It's an experience. It's an experience. It's an experience for them that in other cases they wouldn't be able to

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have. something. Okay. Something else is that you're taking opportunities away from the kids that need it the most, the kids in Lawrence. at the courthouse. So, it's a fact that kids that have these opportunities to go to those

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places uh they have a better outcome. Like you, maybe you went to a courthouse and you went to the VA. Okay. I'll ask of you please to reconsider because these kids don't only need to um go to school but they do need the service.

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Okay, we will be having hundreds of kids crossing the bridges and this is the most um this is the youth. This is their most vulnerable stage and we could have kids just in the streets. I would also want to know your plan for the amibos uh buses. Are you going to have more buses? Are you going to have

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more people driving those buses? I would also want to know the routes you'll be taking off of other people that need it for transportation for work and giving it to kids twice a day. At this moment, MEA has three roots. The eight, the nine, and the >> I think I might be wrong. and the 29th

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26 I think and the 26 I really want to know the plan because I know that we all have money problems and the city has serious money problems and issues, but I really want to know if that will be the best solution to the problem which will be taking away the kids transportation.

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And I urge you to think about those kids that that need the transportation and for their safety. and the parents um they go to work thinking that the kids will be safe, that they will be at the bus stops and that they will be going to school. >> And please, political speaking, I don't

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know what you do. I don't know what compromises you have, but please think about the students of Lawrence. They need the bosses. The bosses are are good. We are not perfect. The bosses are not perfect. I don't think anything is.

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It's true. There is problem. the situation drivers. Being a bus driver is a serious job. We could have problems between each other, between bus drivers, but it is a serious job. We provide transportation. How much is

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your brother worth? How much is your grandchild worth? How much is your child worth? >> That's what we transport. We transport the most anybody. We give transportation to the most valuable thing that you could have.

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and taking transportation away from those kids at the most vulnerable stages which could make them lean to a not so good path and making the parents worry for their kids um transportation and the security is not great. >> Graciaso, thank you for your time.

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>> Thank you. The next person. Order. Order. Order. The next order. The next person, please name my address for the record. Uh, good evening. Um, my name is Nat Stevenson and I'm a co-secary for the Abbott

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Lawrence Academy uh, PTO along with my my wife Erica here. Um, so wanted to say good evening to the honorable elected officials from Lawrence, uh, members of the PTO and citizens of Lawrence.

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Um, I'd like to talk about the bottom line for parents. I continue our children's safety. Our daughter attends uh, Abbott Lawrence Academy and she relies on the school bus

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to get to and from school safely. Um, >> I want to jog everyone's memory for a moment. Uh, last year the PTO fought for the funding of school transportation. >> Do you mind? >> And we won. >> Do you mind staying your address, please? >> I'm sorry. What?

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>> Do you mind staying your address, please? >> Your address? >> My address? Oh, yeah. 392 South Broadway. Yeah. Um, so I just want to reme I want to jog everyone's memory that for a moment that last year the PTO fought for the funding

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of uh school transportation and we won. Uh, but here we are again. We should not have to fight for uh this service. That should be a right for all Lawrence students.

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If you cut uh this funding, you're forcing her, my daughter, and hundreds of other children off of of a protected school bus and onto public city transit. The reality of public transportation

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is that it is open to the general public. Our kids shouldn't have to navigate crowded routes alongside total strangers and unpredictable situations just to get an education. A dedicated school bus provides a safe

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supervised environment. So as a public school teacher, I know how much stability and peace uh matters. So some might say that there is no money. They say we have no money for the

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school transport. as we've heard from uh Miss uh Bernal uh listed the the budget for the city of Lawrence and also we had the the other citizen who spoke who gave us sort of a

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nice little analysis of how uh the budget's going up and down. So I'll tell you one thing um there is always money and how our society spends its money is how we demonstrate our values.

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Please show that Lawrence supports its children by retaining the school transportation funding. Thank you. >> Thank you. The next person, please. Name and address for the record. 392 South Broadway. My name is Erica Stevenson.

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Um I am a co- secretary from the PTO from Lawrence uh for a academy. I am here tonight to state clearly that we are uh fundamentally opposed opposed to eliminating a school transportation

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funding for next year. This is a glaring matter of geographic equity. Right now, North Lawrence students get buses across to the river to the main Lawrence High campus yet. But you want to cut the

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transportation for South Lawrence families whose kids attend Avad Academy on the north side. Be payon equity. Eliminating these buses forces a massive crisis onto families among the many

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logistic and financial issues. Parents will have to face a result of loss in school transportation. We are looking at severe uh conflicts to working parents who cannot leave their jobs for mine afternoon pickups and also it's a uh

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viral uh intercampus link pro ingot Lawrence Academy students from getting across town to Lawrence to high school to participate in sports theater and j or OTC and other extra activities. Um,

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you say it in English. Oh, same. >> I beg you um to think about the kids of Lawrence because they are the future. You say, "Go ahead. Okay. It's important to you for you to think about this as a necessity and a

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and something basic that these kids needs. It's not okay for us to be here every year fighting for this for something that it's a necessity, something they need. Um, I urge you to please think about your decision. >> Thanks. Thank you. >> Thank you. The next person u name and

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address for the record, please. >> Will I Maldonado 49wood Circle? Um, first of all, I feel that the mayor should be here to hear our concerns because he's the one that did the budget. And as our mayor, I

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feel it disrespectful to us that he can't even sit sit here longer than five minutes to hear our concerns. Okay. So, I'm here tonight as both a both a concerned parent, a member of

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EVIT PTO, and a taxpayer to express my strong opposition to to the proposal to eliminate transportation funding for designated school buses serving students in grades 9 through 12 who already received this service.

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First and foremost, my concern is for the safety of our children. Removing these buses would place a significant number of students onto public streets, increasing the risk of accidents and exposing them to unsafe situations, including potential

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harassment or other harmful behavior. It would also contribute to increased congestion and traffic challenges throughout the community affecting not only students but residents as well.

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>> Okay. This issue is not just theoretical for me. It is deeply personal. Earlier this year, my daughter and a friend were nearly struck by a speeding vehicle in a crosswalk outside their school in front

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of the safe the school safety officer. In addition, my child experienced a traumatic incident at a very young age that continues to affect her many years later emotionally today.

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Because of this, she has expressed real fear about relying on public transportation and states that if her past experience if her past experience were to happen again or even worse,

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there is nothing anyone can do or say to ever take back what has happened or the effect it will have on her emotionally. As a parent, it is incredibly difficult to witness that fear and know that removing dedicated school transportation

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could make her and many other students feel vulnerable on a daily basis. Beyond safety concerns, there are serious logistical concerns to consider. Abbott Academy and LHS together serve more than 3,200 students who rely on

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transportation each day. Public buses, which run roughly every 30 minutes, have a maximum capacity of approximately 35 passengers per trip. Based on these figures alone and the routes of our

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students, it is difficult to see how the public transportation system could absorb such a significant increase in student ridership while continuing to serve the general public effectively. Additionally, we must consider the

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impact of weather and s season seasonal conditions. During the winter months, students would be expected to wait outside in cold temperatures and darkness due to earlier sunsets. These conditions are not only uncomfortable,

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but potentially unsafe, and they could negatively impact attendance and student success. We must also take into consideration afterchool sports and activities. In closing, as a mother, I firmly

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believe that eliminating funding for designated school transportation is neither a safe nor practical solution. As a taxpayer, I demand that our voices be heard and that the mayor reconsider his proposal

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prioritizing a budget that ensures our children have access to designated school buses that are both safe and reliable because at the end of the day, our tax dollars pay for it. Thank you for your time, man. >> Thank you. The next person, the next

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person, please name my address for the record. >> Good evening, CA. My name is Mediv Benoon, 86 Beacon Street, South Lawrence. Sorry about that. Good evening, city council member of this chamber. My name is Medivan, 86

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Beacon Street, South Lawrence. I'm a concerned parent for an ILA student. First of all, I want to say thank you for giving us the opportunity tonight to discuss and express our concern regarding uh our student transportation.

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The Abber family and myself strongly oppose the removal of trans transportation for students in grade 9 and 12 who are currently receiving it. And we urge the city to fulfill its commitment to provide transportation to

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high school students. Today we are here all here for one purpose and one purpose only is to provide transportation for our students. should be a permanent aspect and a priority. Oh, I'm sorry. Just like Yes. Sorry

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about that. >> It's It's right. Sorry about that. Sorry about that. Con, we urge the city to fulfill its commitment to provide transportation to high school students. Today we're all here for one

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purpose and one purpose only is to uh provide transportation for our students. Pros transportation should be a permanent aspect and priority not a temporary option for our students because by eliminating the service

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things will end to a lot of consequences that can damage the structure of our students daily routine all around the educational field which result in a lot of negativities. First, safety like I mentioned here,

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drop off from school, tardiness and absetism. Uh uh concentration in classrooms, missing their activities, daily activities like clubs uh after school programs and sport and etc.

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Loss of access to educational opportunities. losing wages because some of the students have to go to school and when they're done they have to go to some parttime some of them have part-time jobs to go to some student have like part-time jobs to go to and uh after

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school and then that can cause a lot of things to student like bad behavior and bad behavior can draw people to a lot of things drugs gangs violence etc you know I mean traffic congestion and buildup loss of income for taxpayers

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When parents start struggling between making ends meet and driving their kids daily to school to a to a to school or to another job and school losing money, school will lose money and fund after student drop off growth mental and

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physical health issues for over for uh for our future generation. We are respectively asking all city members council to consider all these matters and make a

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solid decision and standard permission a promising commitment in favor of our student transportation to ensure safe permanent funding and uh equal uh access to education field. Thank you and my god

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bless all of us. >> Thank you. The next person name and address for the record, please Luis Robles, uh 183 Abbott Street. Um got to get a new prescription, so bear with me if I'm a little slow. It's the glasses. Um good evening. And I hope

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uh you guys have some funds in your budget cuz I kind of messed up the sticker for the handicap. Sorry about that. Um so basically uh I'm a parent from for a student that goes to the Abbott Lawrence Academy. I live in the south and um all the every single parent

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that we spoke to from the Abbott, from the multilingual families, from the LPAC and from our meetings that we have done, every single parent is opposed, strongly opposed to the elimination of the school buses. To be clear, we're not

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talking about public transport, the elimination of school buses. We strongly oppose that and we just want the city to fulfill its commitment. So, as you can see, there hasn't been any insults. Nobody's going crazy. This is nothing personal. This is just families advocating for their students. Police,

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fire, teachers, everybody have their unions to represent them, to negotiate with the mayor, parents. We don't have a union. We have to come together and fight for the things that we want. Um,

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it is not ethical to balance the budget on the backs of our students. um especially when the administration has promised that we are in good health, we have a surplus of funds and

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apart from that now all of a sudden we have a deficit. Um so we just want to the current services for the students who are receiving it to continue receiving it. Um, even the students, the families that have students that don't receive transportation because they quote

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unquote live too close. They're upset that they don't have transportation. So imagine now the people that live further away across the bridge. Um, so we're not asking for anything crazy. It's just the same thing that you the city has been providing for years.

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Um, there was no notification sent. There was no intent. There was no getting together with families, with schools, with parents saying we have the intention to do this so that we can be prepared. None of that. And we can make the argument that we didn't know that this was going to happen because the

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same thing happened last year. And as you and if you remember, students and other people had to come and advocate for the same thing as well. So we know we knew ahead of time that we had enough time to get with families and all of a sudden now at the end of the school year, we want to come back and do the

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same thing again. so abruptly. Um there are several I can't even understand my own handwriting now. There are there are several second order consequences that we also have to consider um when it comes to what is

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being incentivized. So we can assume that families are just going to happily take the MIVA transportation which we know is not going to happen. Um so what are we going to incentivize? We're going to incentivize more kids to be on scooters and ebikes which we already have an issue with that. Um multiple

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accidents have already occurred with teenagers and now we're going to potentially increase the accidents because now we're bringing more ebikes and scooters because that's what will be incentivized. We complain about congestion during those school pickup and drop off times. There will be more

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congestion because some parents are just going to drop their kids off rather than just going straight to work. And there's also the cost. As you know, we are low-income community. So, we like to compare ourselves. Oh, Somerville is doing this this we're a lowinccome

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community. Um, and so we can't be using fallacies saying well these two cities do it so we can do it. Well, I can give you two cities that also provide school bus. So why don't we copy them? What? We can't pick and choose which city we're trying to model when it's convenient for

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us. Um so for students this will be higher stress, financial burdens for family, um private buses and logistics issues. So, we can say, "Oh, well, you know, there's people that say, well, just have

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the parents pay for a private bus." Well, right now, let's say you try to get a private bus for a kid who's in elementary school. You have to call like 10 companies to see if they actually have a spot. And now we're t and this is from going to the south to the south or

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north to north. Now, we these companies most of them they don't like to cross the bridge and we're talking about crossing the bridge in this case. So most of them will not agree will not give you a seat to go from South Lawrence to north because they like to stick within the south or within the

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north within that particular route of where they pick up the the kid. Um so that might not even be an option. But now if you got high school kids competing for seats in private buses now the elementary school kids might not have that available to them anymore.

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And of course with more demand you guys know that laws of supply and demand. A lot of you study this in school. When there's more demand, the prices go up. So you can say, well, oh, Uber is only 10 bucks. Well, when you Uber works by supply and demand. So

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if you have now double or triple the amount of people asking for Ubers in the morning, which I've done this two or three times and it's it doesn't work because they cancel you in the morning. They know you're d you might be doing it for a student and they come late because now they're in traffic. So the kid ends

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up ends up going late to school. But now the cost is increasing because now there's more people competing for the same Uber. So the algorithm is going to increase the prices and we already know people are already struggling with their bills as it is.

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Um apart from that we trust the school buses because it's an extension of the school. If a kid is being bullied in the school bus we know where to go. We go to the school. If an incident happens in the school bus, we

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know that the school is responsible. Are we going to be now saying, "Well, Ma is sending us to the school, but the school is sending us to MEA. Now, nobody's responsible if something happens to one of our kids." Schools, they have a stop arm, a stop sign that comes out. Some

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people don't respect it and they drive by, but for the most part, most people do. MEVA. I don't I've never seen anybody stop for MEA when MEVA is dropping somebody off. People just pass MEAT >> straight. Um

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I'm going to leave it like that because I know the time is uh of value and there's more people waiting. So, thank you so much for this opportunity and please reconsider uh redoing your budget. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh next person name and address for the record, please. Um,

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sorry. I am Justin Ton 99400 Street. >> Uh, Andre Feliz, 50 Street. And >> we think this idea is extremely unethical for the entire uh, Massachusetts department in general. I feel like if we were to scrap the idea that there's no more buses, there would

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be no reason for a school to even exist because attendance is very keen on everything you're relying on. So, not only will removing that type of transition allow that to happen, it will also allow a down spiral in LHS's own image, as LHS has been shown to be a

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very violent area. It's also because it's also completely disgusting. Um, if you were to have went to LHS recently, half the bathrooms have not been working correctly. So, not only will you destroy another image of LHS, but it will completely override what we've been

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trying to make for years. And listen, the protection of everybody has been at stake for years. And having that protection from SEC security was a great idea, but um having those students there makes no sense as we would love to have our students be there constantly and

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ready to learn. And to to be frank, you guys have done amazing job this year. Um we love you guys, but uh decision is out of anybody's question and it is very unethical. Audrey, >> um as a We're both both student athletes

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here. Um I believe that if removing the transportation cost or anything like that, it removes any like future student athlete. We're both here like trying to like oppose all of this because we believe that we know we both know amazing student athletes that like they play,

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they're amazing, they're talented, they could go have a bright future, but they can't do it because of rides. But eliminating the cost of any like transportation, any transportation they had is going to remove any future or any Lawrence kid that comes out of comes out

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of Lawrence. So I believe that this is like a bad cause. Like this is not something we should do. We're great. We're all we're all students who want to do something in the future and there's many kids that have talent and that could fight for or have the name Lawrence under them.

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And we agree that uh LHS can change for the better, but this isn't one way to start it. And we would love to start it by fixing everything almost wrong with LHS. Mainly fixing the uh issues that concurrent the teachers and inhabitants of that are known unethical and unlearningable and fixing the other

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areas that maybe could be done over time, but this is not the step to a better Lawrence. I case. >> Thank you. All right. Next person, please. Name and address for the record. High and it's a little hard.

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>> My name is Glora Miranda Street >> and my address is 661 Exit Street. My son goes to Lawrence High School. >> I'm here because it's not only me. I'm here and there's also other parents of low income

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and it will be very difficult for them to pay for transportation. low income. Yeah. In the city of Lawrence is based on low income. >> Oh, and in public transportation is not safe for the kids. who can assure um the parents of the

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security for the kids on public public transportation which you could also see on TV that they have beat um elderly people. I would like for you to think about this again. We've never seen this in the city of Lawrence before.

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So taxis don't give priority to students. So they're always will be late to school since they always pick up other people. Oh, and a lot of the kids don't know the routes for the buses either. And I'm saying this from experience. My

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son tried to take the public public transportation and he got lost. So I had to send him a taxi. And then I get messages from the school saying that my son is late. So I would like you to reconsider since me and other parents in Lawrence are low income and the rent already in Lawrence

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is pretty high. So, we would have to get another another cost added to our budget. >> And taxes cost $8 to go and $8 to go back in one day. Imagine in a year.

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>> It's very expensive. Thank you. Thank you. And we're parents. I hope you reconsider. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next person name and address for the record, please. >> Good evening. Once again, John Regal, 22 Hilltop app. Uh I'm going to go just to

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give you an idea. You guys want to cut budget, let's say, for our school buses. Let's start on the top. School school administration. There's a lot of them that makes a lot of money. So, if we're going to cut budget, let's cut there. I

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think that's a a good idea where we could save some money instead of paying thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars in school administration, let's cut there before we start cutting, you know, what we really need for our kids. So, think about that and thank you. >> Thank you. The next person, please name

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my address for the record. >> How y'all doing? Uh, my name is Nathan. I live on 182 Common Street. Um, and I just wanted to come today and look y'all in the eyes. And hopefully the mayor, I don't know if he's here. And I could

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tell by the looks on your faces that you actually don't agree with cutting the the school buses. Um, I can't imagine you would. You guys are human beings. You wouldn't want the kids at Lawrence walking to school or taking public transportation. and you've seen the support of all the families and teachers

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and community members and even the students themselves telling you that they got to get jobs just to pay for Ubers to go to school. So, I just want to sit here and look at y'all and, you know, hope that you do the right

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thing. And I don't want to hear about there's no money. There's a $60 million police station that just got built. Last time I was in this room, it did not look like this. So, I know y'all could find the money, especially while we're still under state receiverhip. If it's not on

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you, the state should be providing the buses since they are still in control of the school system. I know the school committee doesn't want the school buses to be taken out and be replaced with the public transportation. MEVA can't

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accommodate 3,000 more passengers every day. Um, so what we really doing here, you know. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next person, please. Name my address for the record and title. >> Good evening. My name is Eliia Quinn

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Ganella. I'm on the school committee and I live at 27 Cross Street, Lawrence. Um, I guess a couple points is just first off, um, as a school committee member, I'm very curious about the NRT contract. Uh, North Reading Transportation. Is

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that what it's called? Uh I know that we've been using them as our main vendor for transportation for for a while and I wonder you know what are the the what are the dis what are the details around you know what are the other options that

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are available for Lawrence um what's more is are there other companies that might be more affordable uh are there other companies that might be more reliable my apologies to anybody who's representing NRT here But when I used to

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work at Lawrence High School, we we had various issues uh with them. Sometimes buses won't show up. Sometimes they would call us and tell us that they don't have a driver. And so they don't have the greatest record serving Lawrence public schools. So I wonder what we're doing to look at other

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options. And uh also just what the what the fair process is with when it comes to bidding for these contracts. Why is it that we always have the same company over and over again? um what are the options there? And then secondly, uh I work currently for

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Somerville public schools and the students at in Somerville, granted it's a smaller community, I think it's about four square miles, they actually do use the public system to uh to trans to for transportation to the schools. And but I don't think that they're they I don't

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think that they implemented it so quickly as it's being proposed or or suggested that we do it. I don't think that. So I do I do realize that there might be some benefits like councelor Llant on Monday you said that this might be a creative option. I think that there

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are benefits to using the public system the MEVA system. However, we there's no way that we will be ready to transition into that system in the next 3 months or whatever it is uh when school starts. We have serious questions about capacity.

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Uh Nate just shared about do we know if MEVA can uh can transport what is it 1,800 students back and forth? >> Well, the ones who live in north at least I think. And um

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do they have enough buses? Do are there are there enough bus stops near where students live? Do we need to add bus stops? Do we need to? So I guess my point is as a researcher I would just strongly encourage that if there is an option being considered to transition to

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MEVA that first a pilot session a pilot uh uh opportunity would be implemented first. This needs to be tested out. We don't want to put our kids in a situation where we don't know exactly what the outcome is going to be. We need we have serious questions about safety. We have serious questions about

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capacity. And it's my estimation that there's no way there's no way um that we would be ready for that transition come late August. So I hope that we can at least for the short term figure out how to find the funding for uh

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transportation for general education. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else that wishes to speak? Name address for the record and title, please. Uh Jonathan Gooseman. Do you want me to >> Yes. Yes. Use one.

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>> Jonathan Gooseman. Uh Lawrence School Committee elected at large 39 Lind Street, Lawrence, Mass. Um uh good evening, Council President Rodriguez and members of the city council. Um thank you for the opportunity and providing this to the community. It's always good

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to understand that you uphold transparency all the time that when you are going to take a huge decision and make a decision within our district that you always provide the opportunity for the community to come and talk before you. I'm always going to applaud you to

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that um and that you're able to, you know, not limit people when they come before you to speak. I would like to begin addressing the transportation. As we all know, it is the responsibility of the city of Lawrence to take this on. Not chapter 70, not Lawrence public

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schools when it comes to uh our secondary education. What we do recognize is that it's a necessity, not a lux, not not a luxury. Our students need this in order to get to school. This responsibility is

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established under Massachusett law for many elementary students, particularly those in kindergarten through grade six who live more than two miles for their school, taking that eligible uh making them eligible to for transportation and

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allowing the state to require services if it's not provided. These requirements are considered within Lawrence public schools policy. Additional transportation obligations assist for special education students and students experiencing homelessness. While

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transportation for many secondary students may not be mand mandated by statue, it remains an essential service that provides equitable access to educational opportunity, extracurricular activities, athletics, and other essential services for our students. As

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you know, NRT has once again increased the transportation budget. Their contract continues to increase year after year, bringing the total today to 13.4 million. This increase comes

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despite the substantial support provided by LPS and the city to assist NRT to obtain electrical buses and the necessary the necessary infrastructure through federal ground opportunities

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through the EPA in which LPS serves as a key partner. These investment benefit not only student transportation but also reduce NRT maintenance and fuel costs. So you will think that you will see a

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reduction on this year's budget or bill. Despite these realities, the depation has proposed only 11.7 million for transportation leaving 1.7 million shortfall. In previous years, unrestricted funding sources were

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available to assort these costs. However, that is no longer the case and chapter 17 funding cannot be used to cover this gap. This unfunded obligation places an un unsustainable burden on LPS and requires immediate attention from

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both the administration and the Laurens City Council. I also want to be clear this that the suggestion that the Marramac Valley Transit MEA can replace this service is not realistic. While MEVA roots provide valuable supplemental

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transportation and are utilized by many students today, they do not provide comprehensive substitute a comprehensive substitute for transportation services required by our district. Fully funding student transportation remains essential today.

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Additionally, I respectfully request that through your deliberation and conversation that you ask these simple questions about the FY2 transport transportation expenditure. What is the city total school transportation up-to-ate spending for fiscal year 2026?

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And how is the city of Lawrence currently o what how much money is the city of law of Lawrence currently owing NRT. Another significant concern is approximately 1.3 million in lease

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expenses currently charged to LPS. As these leases exceed the uh allowable time frame for chapter 70 reimbursement, they can no longer be supported through the school funding and become mun a municipal responsibility. Failure to

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address this issue may result on student relocation, disruption educational programming, and an increase on hardship for families. We're rapidly reaching the limits of available spaces within our district. And I continue and we continue

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to in have an inaction that could ultimately result in difficult decisions regarding the availability of educational facilities. I also have a serious concern regarding the transparency and public engagement surrounding the LPS fiscal year 27

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budget process. The initial budget for LPS was posted on May 12, 2026 without no public announcement, no outreach efforts, no flyer. The school committee received a limited

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20page budget summary the same way the same one that was posted on May 12th. While more detailed itemized budget was not provided until May 27, 2020 2020 2026 approximately at 2:35 p.m.

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only hours before the actual public he hearing on March 27. Our families received notice of such hearing on May 23rd, just 3 days before beforehand, and no remote public

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participation was allowed. Given that the budget have been publicly available online since May 12th, the sequence of events raises legitimate concerns regarding whether the meaningful public participation was ever intended. Furthermore, the budget

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submitted by the chief financial officer of the city of the uh to the city council in early May already reflected projected spending level suggesting a substantial coordination before any public input occurred.

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Staffing decisions have also generated significant uncertainty. Employees have reported receiving non-renewal notices despite positions evaluations and possessing the appropriate lensure for their positions other than having

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informed that they may reapply for their position and seek lensure waiver if they're close to completing certification requirements. This raises important questions. If these employees are rehired, will their

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year of a service and salary placement be honored? Will they be required to restart at a lower salary level? If a staffing if staffing changes are solely related to lensure requirements, why do school by school budget documents show

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substantial reductions on FTEEs and staffing um allocations? The available information strongly suggests the budgetary consideration are also influencing these decisions, not only lenture. I continue to support

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school-based autonomy and I believe principal should have meaningful opportunities to advocate for the needs of their students. Every school serves a unique population with significant needs and local decisions making making it essential. However, while the school

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committee members name appear on this budget document posted on the district website on June 1st, 2026, it is important for the public to understand that the school committee did not vote or approve this budget. Our role remains

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to be an advisory. I cannot support a budget that claims to value workforce diversity. While many of the non-renew the non-renewals affect diverse educators and staff members who are who are in the progress towards full effectiveness and long-term career

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within our district. I would like to call out some additional budget concerns that include the school budget shows salary reductions despite no corresp corresponding reductions in the FTEES increase increases in assistant

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principal positions while frontline instructional staff declines. Teacher reduction in schools with stable or increased student enrollment. Schools serving more than 500 students with only two counselors while smaller schools

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have significant more counseling support. Significant inconsistency between staffing allocation and salary expenditure. The dramatic reduction in instructional support salaries at the Tarbach school for example approximately

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$2 million to $417,000. the Lehey Middle School reduction from a non-instructional support position to two while maintaining a salary allocation approximately 348,000.

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But the superintendent's office bud budget shows an overall reduction approximately 3.6 6 million million dollars due to professional service reallocation and administrative salaries within the office increased by

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approximately 636,000. Similarly, curriculum and instruction salaries increased from approximately 361K to 922,000. Though the addition of multiple central office leadership position, community

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members participated in a survey that I completed and consistently I identify that central office spending as an area that could be scrutinized before reducing reductions are made to direct student spending. I also request

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clarification on other particular expenditures in the budget. Why is the district funding approximately 98,000 for a central Catholic nurse salary. Is Avid Academy scheduled to receive

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approximately 1.8 million in furniture funding during FY26 or FY27? Given the current fiscal constraints, is now the appropriate time for such expenditure? Is the city of Lawrence allocating

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approximately $17 million to education? And does this mean that we're meeting the state requirement minimum of school spending levels? Additionally, I urge the city of Lawrence to release LPS from the 2013

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memorandum of understanding that diverts approximately $4 million from the district for administrative services that could be performed internally by LPS. Finally, I hope we

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all are advocating with our legislators uh in our delegation regarding the future of the Student Opportunity Act. If we do not do something now, you're going to be having a lot of more conversations of a lot of more cuts that

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could be happening in 2028. Thank you for your attention to this important matters. I look forward on seeing your answers to these particular questions to serve our students and our families of Lawrence public schools. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next person please. Uh name and address for the record.

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>> Hello. My name is Sara Perez 19 McKinley A Lawrence Massachusetts. Um I bought my house on 2010 and I used to pay taxes of $3,000 then it's up to 7,000 now. And looking at the budget,

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I'm going to give you some ideas um why the budget is so high and why I don't want I don't want to continue um to be approved the way it is. first an auto auto increase of 2.5% on

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salaries that people that are not on the union not on non-union employees which it means all these people that being hired um without having the license certifications the education to hold those positions so they automatically

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going to get an increase this year that that I found it really um disgusting because we have a lot of people and Lawrence that went through college that have experience and they nobody's getting the opportunity to find a job in the city.

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We hiring friends um because of political friends and and favors and stuff and we not looking at us all of us are being affected by this issue. So an increase of 2.5% to be a no-go. That's that will

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save some money for the college for the school transportation. We paying a lot of money on lawyers and lawsuits. We have a lot of lawsuits and because we hiring people that are not prepared to do their job for their positions. We have to hire consultants to do their

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job. So we paying a salary and paying consultants which make no sense. Um multiple investigations. Some of them they they were needed and some of them were just not needed at all. I don't want to go into the deep end which ones I think it should have

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been done and shouldn't studies. We do a lot of studies. Um that's where the money is going. Scott studies consultants hiring people uh with a really high salary or we hire somebody for a position and a couple months later they come back to this uh board here and

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they ask they change the name and now with the name change is another $25,000 increase. We we can have that this is the poorest city in the whole Massachusetts 341 cities and we are like the lowest number I would say number one

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but we are like the lowest one. Um, so I'm I'm hearing about all these parents here. I raised my kids here. My four kids went to Lawrence schools and um and I see this is really concerning. We know how things are around the city and and the gans and stuff and we cannot be

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throwing these kids out there to drive. What if they decided to drive to school? What if we have 500 cars the kids are driving to school now? Where we going to park all those cars? That's a question. What's a what's a plan? We talking about MIA. Can MVA um

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accommodate another 1,800 to 2,000 students. Remember the school bosses, they work in the morning and then they they get a time off and then they come back in the afternoon. So they do they drive like from 7 to 9 and then they do all the stuff and then come back like 3

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to 6 or 3 to 4. Can MVA accommodate that? Can the drivers accommodate that? So, um I heard somebody say, "Let's do a pilot program first um and not automatically remove all the school buses. Let's try let's try a private.

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Let's do 25% try with AMEA and see if it works and then expand it, you know, to the whole classroom or the whole high school. Um that's another issue. A stipens, a stipens is a problem. A stipen is a problem because if I'm paying, you know, $145,000 a year to get

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me some grant between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., why I have to pay you a stipen for getting for doing your job for managing the grant? Then they should be managing the grant after after work hours. So I'm the double dipping because

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if I'm paying you to get a grant and you're going to manage the grant and you're going to work 8 to5 with the salary then why I'm paying you on a stipen. It makes no sense to me. So um that should be look at too uh to save some money. So I'm giving you a lot of

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ideas where can we save some money to keep the school buses because it's totally unacceptable that we we expect the parents to come up with Ubers or drive the kids to school and we are talking about mental instability a lot of mental issues on the area. Imagine

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those parents that have extra worry now the kids are going to get to school. Are they going to get to school? Are they going to stop by their friends? They don't want to go to school. Like it's a lot to put on parents and it's a serious responsibility and we can cut to we can cut just on pay

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paid people that we pay and a lot of people that don't do the job a lot as we call it and Dominicans if we start cing those out we're going to have a million dollar extra right so I think we should like sit down

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chill out and and really review this budget and start following the money that's what I do on Facebook. I follow the money. I look at the agendas and I follow the money and the money is missing. The money is missing. I don't

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get any foyer request. Nobody want to tell me what everything is because I speak I speak for the people. I'm educating my people to take make good decisions when when we vote and we also educate people and that's what I'm doing. I don't hate anybody. I

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just trying to tell my people, listen, you guys need to follow the money. We need to follow the money. The money is drained out of the city. Is this city the way it's been run will be a private business, we bankrupt by now. We'll be

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closed by now. And that needs to stop. That needs to stop. We need to start accountability, fiscal responsibility, and really look at the budget. Not only

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the budget, look at the grants, too. Cuz I didn't see the grant in there. We get a lot of money and we do projects and then we don't see the projects or the money. So,

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that's all I have to say. Thank you. Good night. >> Thank you. Anybody else from the public that wishes to speak? >> Name my majest for the record, please. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Good evening. Evening counselors,

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elected officials, and appointed officials, department heads here for the uh Bill Collins one plat court. here for the FY27 budget hearing as I do every year and it's mostly the same subject. Could I have a an

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interpreter, please? >> Thank you. I believe the other 80% of Laurent should know what's going on in this city. Thank you. Okay. First of all, I'm speaking invoking the uh provision of Mass

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General law chapter 149 section 185. >> All comments are going to be covered by that. Okay. >> Can you point out the number to >> 149 section 185? >> I was going to talk about the PETA principle, but I think that's uh over a

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lot of people's heads here. It's a management principle that seems like the city hall hierarchy ascribes to Peter main comment I want to make and it's it's a tough crowd here. It's a paros

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ninños crowd and council >> and I think all these people did outstanding work >> point council president the reason why we have interpreters is who are able to speak English is so that they can speak to us when people are here it's a public

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hearing and a public meeting and they're speaking to the council >> okay that's your interpretation I going to allow him to talk to the people the people are Go ahead. You might Thank you, Mr. President. >> And council president, we also would have had it in translation services. We

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would have had that in the year. We would have been able to do that in a different language, but we don't have them here tonight. >> Yeah, we don't have it today. We have a >> that would have been the fix. >> We have we have a a city employee that is actually helping out with your translation and the people are here, the people that we doing the public hearing

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for. >> May I continue? >> Yes. >> Thank you. And uh that's exactly why I asked for an interpreter and I appreciate the help because everybody should know you know rule in the same direction in this city. So basically the

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main thing I want to talk about is the um elder services. You know the city doesn't even have the dignity or respect to call it elder services anymore. They call that building the center even though it is funded by state funds.

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Servicios debo. See, I know a little bit about. So, the elder services, uh, for some reason the name was dropped a long time ago. By mass general law and city ordinance, there was supposed to be a board of nine members meeting monthly.

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>> Okay. that in 10 years noticing that I put it on the city council agenda over a year ago >> and I'm referring to city ordinance 2.120 >> right it was referred to the mayor in

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March of 25 There was no response >> and it was tabled. It was once again referred in uh August of 25 to the HR director. >> Once again, no response.

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Elderly people in this city, in my opinion, have no value. They're not valued. They're not thought of. They're not considered. We used to have painting programs. We had uh computer teach them how to use the computer. There was all

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kinds of programs for the elderly. There's basically nothing now. But somehow in 10 years, they have double their staff and produce less work. The new mission statement for the Elder Services Department of Law should be delay, deny,

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wait until they die. Appreciate that. I'll be moving on to veteran services momentarily, but first I have something I hope the camera operator can zoom in on just to back up what I'm saying. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of uh

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organization here tonight, but here is a picture of the calendar for the center. >> The important thing to notice is the line below the calendar. >> And it says there are no published events in the current month.

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That calendar has had those words for years. >> It's shameful. And I'm glad you were able to capture this graphic on the screen because everything I'm saying I could back up with facts. Moving on to a document tabled at the

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council 15124. >> Oh, sorry. >> 15124. And uh that was put on by myself also because I realized we have a veterans advisory board in the city.

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It's been in the books for over 10 years. >> They've never had a public meeting. >> They have never had a public meeting in 10 years of having this board organized by the uh city council. Never had a public meeting.

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It was referred to the mayor in April of 24 from the committee from the ordinance committee here. >> After hearing no response, it was once again referred in May of 25. Further hearing, no response. It was

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once again by myself. I petitioned the council to send another letter, this time to the HR director also in May of 25. Once again, shameful uh

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shameful performance by the leaders of the city to have two boards that are in the books. They're ordinanced and they're unfilled for over a decade. And I happen to be a member of both of those groups, a senior and a veteran. So it

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doubly affects me. Additionally, there are two ordinance positions in the veterans department and by state law, they are for veterans only. Oh, sorry. >> Deputy director and an assistant

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director. So we have one man our director doing a superlative job as director doing the job of three veterans. He cannot continue that. He cannot do the outreach required of

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that office. He cannot visit the nursing homes, the hospitals, the homebound veterans. One man can't do that job. >> One woman speed a case. It just so happens coincidentally that the leader of that department person

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above him at a supervisory capacity is the so-called director of elderly affairs. Last year at the budget hearing, she refuted my claims of how many veterans live in Lawrence and she used a number that I believe was in the 800 range. 800

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veterans. year for the FY27 hearing. When she appeared on that subject, she mentioned there are over 3,000. Mysteriously, the number has multiplied. Ed statewide a common figure we all use in veterans groups is 10% of the

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population are generally veterans. So that would put it around 10,000 the real number. cannot perform that kind of work, day-to-day work and outreach. >> Once again, it's delay, deny, wait until we die. That's the kind of

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service we're getting from our city government. Thank you. Uh, counselors, appreciate your time. I hope it's all not for not. Hope something happens from this. Thank you. >> Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. >> Okay.

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>> Just Usually I use a whopper. So, uh, >> yeah. No, I'm good. >> Uh, >> no, I don't need water. I'm fine. >> I usually use a walker. I don't. Okay. >> Thanks. No, I'm good. I'm good.

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>> Yeah. Yeah. >> There you go. That's why >> to get a public hearing public hearing for the record, please. Mariso Rodriguez de Hoffman Avenue. Oh,

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good night. My name is Mariso Rodriguez and >> and my address is 27 Hoffman Street. Before anything, this is my first time um speaking here before the council and I was super interested in coming here

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tonight because I'm a bus driver. So, with um the new ordinance, I wanted to come and speak before you. It's very sad that the kids um could lose um this service. I'm here with for my grandchildren. My grandchildren go to

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the schools of Lawrence. It would be very sad if MEA would be the people that would take the contract for the trans transportation for the kids. They need um safe transportation and MA would not give them that. If you look at the people um that get on

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public transportation. Not to judge, it's a lot of people that are drunks and drug addicts and you are asking the parents for um to bring their kids on public transportation. We live in Lawrence, which is in air

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quotes, a a population that's we'll say low income, but I doubt it because we see a lot of buildings being built, a lot of luxuries, and you want the worst for our kids. sing. Maybe council,

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I urge you to think about this decision because maybe one of your kids isn't wouldn't have to take public transportation, but all of these people have kids, grandchildren, friends. It could be one of your neighbors that would have to take the public transportation

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and let's um change the topic. changing the topic. Um, that man uh that gave that speech, he reached my heart. We will get to that age someday. >> Much graci. >> Thank you so much. >> Anybody anybody else from the public that wishes to speak? Name and address

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for the record, please. >> Good afternoon. My name is Roel Ortiz and I live in Lawrence, 1037 X Street. So I'm just here to support everything that has been said already um in regards of the transportation. So I'm just

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supporting all these parents who has um who are um being opposed to the removal of those uh that school transportation. So I won't repeat all the concerns. I just want to express um what has been

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said already. So I simply want my voice to be counted among those who believe that taking transportation away from those students is really a wrong decision. For this reason already mentioned by other parents especially safety, reliability and access to

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education. I do re strongly oppose to that proposal. So I would like you to reconsider that and please um have that into consideration. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else from the public that wishes to speak?

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>> Anybody else from the public that wishes to speak? >> Mr. President, can I get 20 seconds? >> I know. >> Luis Robles, 183 AB Street. As I was sitting there, I remembered

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uh how my son even ended up in Abet Lawrence Academy. Uh remember when he got accepted to multiple high schools. We're going through the pros and cons and he ended up with the his top two choices were GLTS and Abbott Lawrence Academy. Had he known that he would not have

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transportation to Abbott Lawrence Academy, I can assure you he would have went to GLTS. So think about all the kids who accepted an offer to go to Abbott and rejected other offers thinking that they have transportation and live in the south who will now be met with a surprise if the budget is approved as it. So just take that into

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consideration. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else from the public that wishes to speak? going to repeat it two more time. Anybody else from the public that wishes to speak? >> Anybody else from the public that wishes to speak? >> I just want to

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>> Well, I tell him 49 circle. I just wanted I know that it it's not the city I'm sorry the council who makes the budget and I know that some of some of you do support us as parents and our concerns. So I just wanted to thank you.

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>> Thank you. Uh at this point uh public hearing is now closed. Thank you everybody to part uh for the for your comments. Um so madame chair from the budget and finance committee. >> Mr. President,

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>> Mr. President through you. Um, the budget and finance committee has sent up officially the FY the mayor's proposed FY27 budget as a committee report and I make that as a formal motion. >> Second a motion to accept this item as a

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committee report. Properly second discussion discussion >> on the committee report. Uh, madame chair from the budget and finance. >> Thank you. Quickly, I I want to take a moment to thank um the committee members of the budget and finance committee. Uh we had long

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nights, but we asked excellent questions. We engaged with the departments um in a great way. I also want to uh especially thank our capo. We actually started planning for this back in February and as you heard earlier um

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in this meeting when it began um this budget hearing was a lot better. The process was a lot better. Um I have been the chair of three budget hearing process. FY24, FY25, I mean I'm sorry,

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FY25, FY26, and now this one. And this was by far the most organized um we have been. And I just want to thank everyone that's been part of it and has given me a genuine support to improve this process year after year. So thank you

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for that and um that is all I want to say. >> Um Rosario, >> thank you to you councelor President and I and I would like to say I mean congratulate you guys. Great job. Um but I want to add one thing while I was watching uh the meetings. Every

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department heads actually thank the employees that they that they manage. Every department head was the best department ever. Unfortunately, our department did not say thank you to the people. They actually do our job. I mean, Bill Collins on the back. If I missed that, I'm sorry, but I it seems like I missed that. Bill Collins on the

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back. John on the back. Those are the people that you guys have them see us. And most definitely most definitely Maria and the and and the minist and and Teresa. Teresa our secretary. Teresa is the only secretary here in the city of Lawrence has nine bosses. Nine of us

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with different attitude, different set of minds and and different dates. I mean today I'm happy and I talk to Theresa. Tomorrow I'm mad and I talk to Theresa. Teresa had taken everything from us and it was it wasn't it was not a single comment by saying this is the best secretary we have while all of the

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department heads had the best department ever. Um and unfortunately also thea is the only uh confident secretary that is below way below everybody else when it comes to salary while she deal with nine of us

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and sometimes with the with the city clerk. So, it's it's it's it's tons of work when it comes to a legal secretary and she hasn't been recognized at all from none of us and and and that's okay cuz we have our daily life and it goes through. But I just want to recognize those that work with us here and they

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will miss at that budget hearing. Thank you. >> Anybody else before we call the vote for that uh committee report? >> Councelor Marmo. Um, counselors, I wanted to uh briefly engage with you

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guys um to give you a little bit of uh what my experience and perspective was as a member of the budget and finance committee. Um primarily for those that are not part of that committee, um I know that these meetings are lengthy and maybe you didn't get to see all the

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budget hearings. Um these are hearings that take four plus hours. um long nights and I also, you know, I too wanted to thank my colleagues um in the budget and finance um committee. We all asked great questions. Um and I

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appreciate that we all come from different backgrounds and experiences that allows us to to uh see things differently and ask certain questions that maybe one of us did not think of asking. Um those that know me know that I'm very vocal when it comes to uh

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pretty much every budget hearing that I've been a part of. Uh but um being that this is my third budget hearing as well, I've learned um with the experience that I've gained on how to manage myself and pick and choose my battles. Um but I must say that one of

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the things there were many things that we that we've questioned. Um I and I'll speak again once again based on my experience and perspective. The things that I was vocal on uh my disappointment with um the veterans department. Um my

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disappointment was uh deeply rooted also with the transportation. Um I want to thank the mayor in taking the opportunity to to contact me in trying to gain an understanding as to what my sentiments were regarding this budget.

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And um the CAFO was a witness to me being very transparent as to what were my concerns and it was the mayor's department regarding the advertising. You know I it is my perspective that it

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there is a misuse of funds. Um it is my perspective based on my experience with past budget approvals that we approved um a budget where there were positions

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my opinion it were sometimes not even necessary or not a priority. Um, I I I expressed my concerns with with transportation. Um, and many of the things that were discussed uh tonight

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were pretty much what I had reiterated. Um, I believe that bus drivers are, you know, they are mandated reporters. Um, and not I remember when I was a student, you know, I didn't I did not grow up here in Lawrence. I came here in the

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eighth grade. um and being uh you know that that change which I I believe there's a lot of students that move to the city of Lawrence that don't grow up here, those that are coming from a different country. Um that's a big

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change. So let alone shifting to a brand new high school, that is a scary experience. Um, and I I have concerns when it comes to the the public safety issues to which um although MEVA was presented to us as an option, there's so

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many details that we had many questions that we have yet to know the answers to. Um, if we're going to try to make this a priority, I think that we should be reminiscent to to also acknowledge the fact that, you know, they did bring up

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issues and concerns regarding sidewalks. You know, we're not blind to the challenges that our that our city faces. Let's not forget the the horrible experience that we had with the winter season where sidewalks are not plowed.

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um accordingly. Um if we're also going to make public safety a priority, um then let's start adding speed bumps at at least nearby schools. Um with the bus stop,

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when are we using school school buses? There's only one stop versus MEA there's several stops. So honestly I as vocal as I was during those budget sessions and being against um you know being against

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moving forward I think that is important for you guys to gain an understanding as to why I would not feel comfortable in in approving this budget. And you know uh once again you know some of you may not have uh been a witness or attended

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these meetings. So, I just wanted you guys to have a little bit of a background as to why um my why I'm moving forward and not approving this budget. >> Uh, anybody else? Any other counselors before we call for the vote for the um

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committee report? >> I've got a question. >> Council Black, >> we have a memo that was given to us by email and on our desk. >> Yeah, we will go to that in a second. And I just think it's important after before we actually have a motion, >> after we do this motion, having this vote, someone's gonna make a motion to

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support whatever the motion is. I just think it's important now that we at least acknowledge that there's this information here. >> Yeah, we will we will go to that in a second. >> That's part of the plan. >> Anybody else? >> I wasn't aware of the plan.

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>> Well, I do have a plan as a chair, so that's going to be part reading in a second. >> I'm sorry. Sorry. What's the plan? >> We're going to the we're going to read the memo to the record in a few seconds. >> Oh, you're going to read it before this before the vote.

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>> Yes. Thank you. Because we're going to we we take the we taking the vote on the committee report, >> not on any anything else. >> And then eventually we're going to entertain a motion for the uh for the purpose of the discussing the budget.

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So, Anybody else for the uh any other counselors that would choose to speak? >> Council president. >> Um u madam chair for the other the finance committee. >> Thank you. I was going to hold this for the second motion, but since we're

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already talking about transportation, I'm going to say it now and get it out of the way. Um throughout public participation, it was a 2hour um public part hearing and public participation process. I was not one surprised to hear

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and to see that many of today's public participants were from district E or live in district E. Since I be since the year that I started being a city counselor, I have met with all super all the superintendent at

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least once others more than once pertaining to transportation. We didn't hear much from now, now it's let me let me backtrack. Now we have a situation that's going to affect the entire South Lawrence, but before it mainly affected district E and and the

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families that lived closer to the Andover line um and also in the middle in the middle uh of the district and I heard from those families quite often and every time I tried to advocate for transportation, I was always given the run the runabout. I was always given the

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the reason um at that time I I found it as an excuse but the the three mile radius rule for for bus transportations. I also um brought to the city's attention that and even till this day we have students

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that are still using the dangerous foot bridge to cross from district E to Lawrence High. Um, so I just want to say at least from your counselor, your district counselor, I've I've been I've been mentioning this since 2022

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and I'm not surprised to see many of my constituents here tonight. And and mind you, I did not reach out to my constituents to come tonight. They came on their own. So, I I just wanted to make sure that I publicly stated that that I I I hear you and I've been trying to work with it and

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um sometimes a lot of the work is h happens behind the scenes that it's not always pictures and and you know publicized on social media, >> right? U any other counselors >> can I continue with transportation? >> Do you do you >> Yes. I want to just touch a little bit

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on transportation and and I'm going to pick it back what district council e said but I've been also voicing the problem of transportation since I since I got elected I was a bus driver I was a school bus driver I drove for me too for a few years so I know the concern me and

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council president also a few years ago talked talked amount this right now we have the issue we had it last year for the money but what we do is we fix it today but we don't prepare for next year how are we going to prepare for next that this this doesn't happen again. And I'm going to tell you how. We got to

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break the monopoly. NRT has a monopoly. NRT is the only company that bids for the school department transportation. We don't know what it is. For years, it's the only company and nobody has stopped and trying to find out why is that. But

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I can tell you how we can fix that. How can we fix that? Let's break the bits by schools. How many buses per school? I mean, let's say, put for example, Tarbo School. How many buses do they need? 10 buses. Let's make a bid for 10 buses because what's going to do? That's going

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to bring companies and also local companies that are going to bid. They had 10 boxes. They have 10 buses. They're going to bid for that contract. And what are that going to bring? They're going to bring the cost down. That's one thing, right? So, we got to break those. And I know if special eds and all that stuff is an issue, but we

457
02:38:27.840 --> 02:38:44.399
got to start working on that. We got to we cannot prepare a bid that the the first line says you need 300 buses to apply. Who has 300 buses? Who has 300 buses? Only NRT. And you have tons of drivers here. They have six, five, 10

458
02:38:44.399 --> 02:39:01.200
buses that are waiting to bid for a contract that is not it's not going to cost you millions and millions of dollars. Okay. Second of all, they talk about the contract for the NRT. Who is actually checking the penalties when they leave the kids? when they go back late when they don't pick them up on the

459
02:39:01.200 --> 02:39:16.960
winter they should be paying every time there is a penalty there should be a penalty on them it should it's on the contract who's who's enforcing those contract along public schools nobody is so they owe us money if you comes to that now the deficit to to make this

460
02:39:16.960 --> 02:39:32.319
contract is $1.7 million right somehow in combination with the state we gave them three electrical buses $400,000 each that's over a million dollar right there they cannot give you a break. They cannot work with us to serve the

461
02:39:32.319 --> 02:39:47.840
kids while we give them I mean three buses $400,000 each, right? It's $1.2 million. We gave it to them plus what that say what that what that saved them gas all kinds of stuff, maintenance and all that stuff. It's

462
02:39:47.840 --> 02:40:04.640
over it's over $2 million. But if we don't charge them for the penalties every time they leave our kids on the winter time, if we don't break this monopoly and divide the contract and allow all the companies to bid for it, we're not going to next year we're going to be here asking for more money. So I

463
02:40:04.640 --> 02:40:18.960
encourage that Lawrence public school, whoever write the contract to revise the contract, figure it out how much they owe us on penalty, try to charge them. If not, divide the contract bidding per school, not per district. Poor school.

464
02:40:18.960 --> 02:40:34.720
schools that only needs five bosses, but you not allowing a small company to bid for it and you and you denying yourself or saving while you go crazy and sign contract. I mean, um, uh, school member Jonathan Guzman says that the contract

465
02:40:34.720 --> 02:40:50.080
the expenses on the money NIT went up the prices. They not thinking about kids. It's a business. They want to run their business and they know we're going to find the money. They know that we have to find the money. But it's starting today. We got to be thinking for next year. We're going to deal with

466
02:40:50.080 --> 02:41:05.680
with what we need to do to try to get that transportation right. But what we going to do next year with the prices is going to go up. NRT is going to continue with the monopoly. It's a monopoly that they have. They're the only company that they bid for a contract. So let's start dividing the contracts for school. What

467
02:41:05.680 --> 02:41:20.960
the school needs, what the Allington, how many buses do they need. So you allow all the companies that come in and compete. When when they compete, prices go down. But when you only have one place, one company, one entity beating for a contract, it's going to go up and

468
02:41:20.960 --> 02:41:35.359
up and up and you're not going to give it even local business, you're not giving the local drivers here a a a a fair chance to grow their company. I mean, I was a driver. I probably had a dream of maybe become a a a bus company owner. But how could I compete when you

469
02:41:35.359 --> 02:41:52.080
uh throw in a a a bid for 300 buses? How I'm going to compete? How I'm going to get 300 buses when it's it's not for sure that I'm going to get the contract? Okay. So, let's start with that. And also penalize NRT. Penalize them every time they live out kids. Who is who is in charge of this

470
02:41:52.080 --> 02:42:07.040
contract? Who's who's verifying what they do? I mean, some of the kids again, some of the kids go they saying they going to go late if they use MEA, but they be late at school. Sometimes there's no drivers, short on drivers. Athletics, sometimes they don't make it

471
02:42:07.040 --> 02:42:22.960
to the game. And who's penalizing NRT for that? So, let's start thinking of next year. How are we going to deal with this? And again, and I want to I want my sincere apology to you. Noah, today I and and I'm going to say allow the administration put you on the spot and people are saying the MIA is not safe. I

472
02:42:22.960 --> 02:42:39.920
was a proud driver of MIA and I know how safe it is and we tried as a driver. We tried and and and we don't have that many incidents and or you don't have any any incidents throughout the year. I mean, and I agree. You might don't have the capability to to move our kids around and you might you willing to

473
02:42:39.920 --> 02:42:56.560
help, but we need to start thinking of next year and how the first thing we need to do to save money when it comes to this and we're not talking about is break monopoly the NRT has. And yes, there's driving for NRT here and maybe NRT is going to call me tomorrow like they did the last time that I was talking about them. A lawyer called me.

474
02:42:56.560 --> 02:43:12.560
You put them in a position that we're going to sue you. Sue me. Sue me cuz I'm talking about a monopoly. Is isn't it weird? Have anybody asked why the only one bidding for the contracts here in our district? Nobody asked those questions. And when I raise those questions, nobody pay attention.

475
02:43:12.560 --> 02:43:28.800
So let's start looking into that. So next year we're not here about talking about money or kids losing their transportation. Let's divide those bidding process by a school. How many buses every school need? And you're going to give opportunity to all the companies to come in and compete and we're going to get better prices.

476
02:43:28.800 --> 02:43:45.040
>> Thank you councel Rosario. Any anybody else? I have >> any other counselor second round. Councelor Mamo. >> Um I just I think it's important for me to uh to state that our our counselor here, my colleague amazing points and

477
02:43:45.040 --> 02:44:01.439
you would think that the administration or whatever department is tasked with making that type of analysis that we pay the big bucks to come up with these solutions. You know why? why why it hasn't been presented before us. Why

478
02:44:01.439 --> 02:44:17.359
hasn't that been an option? Um and that's the reason why there's so many concerns when it comes to this budget because time and time again we have been approving a budget once again with uh a budget with where there's several departments on positions with inflated

479
02:44:17.359 --> 02:44:34.399
salaries. Yet we you know if they're going to be in these positions then we look to them to come up with these type of solutions. But I appreciate that, you know, as a counselor and as a colleague that, you know, we do also have a responsibility to come up with suggestions and and solutions and I

480
02:44:34.399 --> 02:44:49.840
appreciate that. Um, you know, you're you're being vocal about it. >> Thank you. Any other counselors before we call for >> Council President? >> Uh, councelor Infante. >> Thank you. I meant to say this uh during when I first spoke, but you to my

481
02:44:49.840 --> 02:45:06.000
colleagues, you also heard from one of my constituents who stated that her daughter almost got hit by a speeding car in front of Lawrence Catholic Academy. That is that is key because it's not just in school zones that we're seeing

482
02:45:06.000 --> 02:45:24.080
the speeding is all across the city. And again, since the beginning of my my time as counselors, I've been advocating for the speed bumps. And I know many we hear this and I know it's it's not a big deal. However,

483
02:45:24.080 --> 02:45:39.279
every single time I have brought up throughout the five years, every single time I have brought up speed bumps to this administration, I get told it is costly to implement and remove the speed bumps, the temporary speed bumps.

484
02:45:39.279 --> 02:45:55.200
And throughout these years, I've I was told that the the city was going to present a plan for speed humps. It is now we're now in 2026 and we have yet to see that plan. So, and I'm and

485
02:45:55.200 --> 02:46:11.439
I'm saying this and what I'm saying now so that nobody nobody from the administration goes and say, "Oh, that I I don't go and speak to people." Because what I'm saying now, I've said it various times and now it's time to figure out a plan

486
02:46:11.439 --> 02:46:26.960
because it's getting worse. If it was bad back then when we were all discussing this, now it's getting worse. And I don't want to wait, and this is a statement that I've also said before. I don't want to wait until a major tragedy

487
02:46:26.960 --> 02:46:43.120
happens. Imagine if my constituent's daughter would have gotten hit by this car. That's what we need to be thinking about, not what next building we're going to redevelop. We can't we can't continue to grow and have also said this

488
02:46:43.120 --> 02:46:57.680
multiple times. We cannot continue to grow this city when the foundation of the city the cracks in our foundation keeps getting deeper and deeper. >> Thank you. >> All right. U Madame Clair, please uh read the memo that we received regarding

489
02:46:57.680 --> 02:47:14.160
to the budget uh process. So from the office of the city attorney, it's a memorandum and it reads to city council and president Giovanni Rodriguez from city attorney Timothy P. Hootin regarding budget meeting 6:15 2026. I have been asked to review the budget

490
02:47:14.160 --> 02:47:30.399
requirements and votes. One, the city budget requires a two-third vote of approval for six members. Rule eight, the affirmative vote of six members shall be required to adopt an appropriation order. Sub two, to amend the budget takes five votes or a simple majority. It is not an appropriation

491
02:47:30.399 --> 02:47:45.600
order. Let me know if you have any questions. >> All right, counselors. Uh, Madame Clair, please call the role for the uh committee report only. >> Committee >> to accept the committee report.

492
02:47:45.600 --> 02:48:00.800
>> Accept the committee report. >> That was the motion. >> I understand. I'm calling the role to accept the committee report. Thank you. I was confused. Coun council plan. >> Yes. >> Council del Rosario. Yes. >> Council Reyes. >> Yes.

493
02:48:00.800 --> 02:48:16.000
>> Council Infante. >> Yes. >> Council Marmal. >> Yes. >> Council Miguel. >> Yes. >> Council Gonzalez. >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Levy. >> Yes. >> Council President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Now we have this item and we accept that as a committee report. Any motions?

494
02:48:16.000 --> 02:48:31.600
>> Motion to approve for the p for the purpose of discussion. >> There is a motion to approve with the purpose of discussion. It's been second uh by councelor de Rosario. Um the motion was made by councel counselors

495
02:48:31.600 --> 02:48:50.560
before we uh proceed with the discussion and potentially any cut or any anything to the budget I would like to read us the following. We as council can only reduce the budget by cutting it.

496
02:48:50.560 --> 02:49:08.319
approving the budget or a denial of the budget. When it comes to a specific allocation, we are only allowed to discuss and make those three that I just

497
02:49:08.319 --> 02:49:25.359
mentioned to what was presented on the budget. We are not allowed as a council to add anything to the budget. When it comes to the specific line item of the transportation on page 103 of the

498
02:49:25.359 --> 02:49:41.439
of the uh city of city of Lance budget, this allocation was presented to us with of 11.7 million based on the needs of the transportation

499
02:49:41.439 --> 02:49:57.279
for the Lawrence public school as per page uh 38 of the Lawrence public school budget. This this have a need of $13.7 million.

500
02:49:57.279 --> 02:50:13.120
So we as council, we're not cutting this line item or we're not reducing it. It was presented as 11.7 million only.

501
02:50:13.120 --> 02:50:28.399
So to make sure that we're clear when it comes to that specifics, councilors, any discussions when it comes to the fiscal year 2027 budget or I believe that potentially the administration should come in front of

502
02:50:28.399 --> 02:50:46.399
us uh to present the budget with an specific statement or whatever you decide. >> Good evening, council president, counselors. Um first of all um I would like to thank the uh budget and finance

503
02:50:46.399 --> 02:51:02.000
committee. Uh indeed we have uh the process went smoother this year compared to others and I appreciate it especially you chair and also committee members that um that brought forth uh your

504
02:51:02.000 --> 02:51:20.080
concern uh but also uh the the way the professional way that it it was handled. I think we all grow through the process. Uh second of all, I would like to thank uh all the directors, all the directors, department heads, and

505
02:51:20.080 --> 02:51:34.640
the employees of the city of Lawrence in general because this budget uh process didn't start um in March. It started uh basically right after the election

506
02:51:34.640 --> 02:51:52.080
uh of 2025 in which all the department heads were requested one way or the other uh to prepare and to uh uh write down all the priorities identify you know whether it's the incoming the

507
02:51:52.080 --> 02:52:08.640
incumbent would have been in this case would be mayor dea or it would have been another mayor because uh Uh it's not only the mayor that sets the vision. It's in conjunction also with the different department heads that worked on that works on a daily basis with our

508
02:52:08.640 --> 02:52:25.279
constituents. Um I'm going to try to shorten this uh the uh the the budget because some of them are really repetitive. I'm going to just only going to read uh four par paragraphs in which states the following on behalf

509
02:52:25.279 --> 02:52:40.319
of the mayor. Lawrence enters fiscal year 2027 from a position of strength. Independent credit agencies continue to recognize the city sound financial management and improving physical

510
02:52:40.319 --> 02:52:56.240
condition. Yet we understand that maintaining the momentum requires discipline, strength, strategic investment, and a commitment to sustainable growth. This budget is more than a spending plan.

511
02:52:56.240 --> 02:53:12.479
This is a reflection of the mayor's vision for Lawrence. A vision grounded in fiscal responsibility, economic opportunity, and commitment to improving the quality of life for our

512
02:53:12.479 --> 02:53:28.240
residents. Now, before discussing the budget in great detail, I would like to note that the appropriation document before you includes a revision based on the latest Cherry Sheet estimates. issued by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue,

513
02:53:28.240 --> 02:53:45.200
Division of Local Services. These updated state revenue and assessment figures require adjustments to the Lawrence public school appropriation requests and have incorporated into the budget presented this evening.

514
02:53:45.200 --> 02:54:01.840
Uh, as a result of these updated estimates, the Lawrence public school appropriation request was revised from 319 million.3, sorry, 319.3 million to approximately 318 million. These

515
02:54:01.840 --> 02:54:18.160
revisions reflect updated charter tuition reimbursement, charter school tuition, school choice, and special education assessment, as well as updated lease estimates. The administration believes it is important that the budget

516
02:54:18.160 --> 02:54:35.040
before the council reflects the most current and accurate financial information available. We look forward to working collaboratively with you during this budget review process and respectfully request your consideration and support for the 2027 operating

517
02:54:35.040 --> 02:54:57.040
budget. >> Thank you. Now, let's put everybody on numbers. Uh Miss Calf, do you mind putting this in perspective when it comes to numbers? Good evening, counselors, budget and finance department. Okay. So, >> so tell us what that means that the the

518
02:54:57.040 --> 02:55:20.960
advisor just read. >> Okay. So, the budget pre presented to the city council. If we all go to the school department page, page 103, the total for the school department

519
02:55:20.960 --> 02:55:51.840
reads 317,451,163. The numbers received today um from the CFO of the school reads 318 million45,957. The variance is $594,794. >> Can you repeat the number again? >> Um

520
02:55:51.840 --> 02:56:17.600
>> $318,45,957. 9007 >> 900 >> so >> 957 >> today we have a different number when it comes to what is specific that's from chapter 70 >> so it's a combination of numbers um as

521
02:56:17.600 --> 02:56:33.600
we've talked during the budget process uh the cherry sheet um announcements that come from the state um the one that was used to create the budget It was uh the governor's proposal which came at the end of January.

522
02:56:33.600 --> 02:56:48.560
Then there's another uh reiteration of the of the cherry sheet and he it's the house budget and then the senate budget is the latest one we received. There is one more um which is will be the final budget which won't be here probably till

523
02:56:48.560 --> 02:57:04.240
the end of June the beginning of July. >> So usually typically we use the government the governor's budget to be able to do our budget. Yes. >> So, we changing out we changing it now to the uh to the uh to the House budget.

524
02:57:04.240 --> 02:57:19.600
>> Um it's the Senate budget. The school the the CFO of the school. Um I'm not sure if you would like to hear from him. This is an email that we received today. It was addressed to uh the city council and and the mayor. Um so um he can

525
02:57:19.600 --> 02:57:38.120
explain further if you like to hear the CFO. It's a million dollars. I see. So, Malfo, do you mind just repeating the number? 318 >> 318,45,957

526
02:57:40.720 --> 02:58:01.520
>> and the variation is >> the variance is 594,794. >> I use calculator. I'm getting a different number. >> Okay. So, it's the Are you doing the 317 million? >> 319. >> No, 317.

527
02:58:01.520 --> 02:58:16.479
>> That's on page 103. >> 451 163. >> I see. >> Minus this one. >> And then you have a negative of >> a negative.

528
02:58:16.479 --> 02:58:54.800
>> Yeah, that's the that's the discrepancy. Give us one second. >> All right. So now to uh can you keep on going on that uh on the different uh sherry sheets and uh and the budget that now is going to be used?

529
02:58:54.800 --> 02:59:12.720
>> Yes. So the first uh submission of the sherry sheet which is what we use for the uh state aid it's um the governor's which is issued usually at the be the beginning of February the end of January. That's what we base the budget on. Um then in sometime between April

530
02:59:12.720 --> 02:59:29.600
and May >> that's a motion to pass then properly second discussion there is none. All those in favor please say I >> I have it. Go ahead. >> Between April and May we get another um submission. This is the house budget. Then um sometime between the end of May

531
02:59:29.600 --> 02:59:45.040
and the beginning of June, we get the Senate. The Senate number um is what the change that I read the numbers from comes from. So the Senate number um includes um

532
02:59:45.040 --> 03:00:00.319
a reduction on charter school assessment. Um actually if I go through the email that was sent from the um CFO I can tell you what numbers changed. The charter school charter school

533
03:00:00.319 --> 03:00:33.840
assessment uh decreased from 50 million11,32 to 49,348,916. School choice sending tuition decrease from 1,132,847 to 1,95,857. special education

534
03:00:33.840 --> 03:00:56.600
changed slightly only um from 46,394 to 46,596. >> All right. Uh >> so >> so I just want to clarify um the difference um of $594,794

535
03:00:57.200 --> 03:01:15.760
was um includes the full funding of the transportation as requested from the school. It also includes the full funding of the leases as requested from the school. So basically we're funding 100% what we're asked from

536
03:01:15.760 --> 03:01:37.600
the school and there is a variance of $594,794. So, just to go over a few things here that you just mentioned last year when we uh we went when we went over the budget the budget of fiscal year 2026

537
03:01:37.600 --> 03:01:52.880
later on when the budget was approved at the state house we have a deficit of $1.4 million because that uh amount of money um the child reimbursement increase. So what going to make uh what

538
03:01:52.880 --> 03:02:10.960
going to what is the difference between this budget what we that we have today and um and what happened last year I mean what what happened if if situation occurred in fiscal year 2027 >> last year it was based on the governor's

539
03:02:10.960 --> 03:02:27.439
budget. >> Mhm. >> Um this year we're actually getting closer to what the final budget is. the Senate has changed the governor's number. Um the school believes is a is a good assumption as as to what uh will

540
03:02:27.439 --> 03:02:44.479
happen. I'm not sure. Um but it's based on a historical records of what has happened um for the final budget compared to the different um budgets that the the state passes. For example, the governor the governor's budget uh

541
03:02:44.479 --> 03:03:01.359
compared to previous years. How does that compare to the final budget? How does the house budget compares? How does the Senate budget? So based on that information from historical years, um the school department believes that uh assuming the Senate budget is a good um

542
03:03:01.359 --> 03:03:21.920
view of what will happen at the end in terms of the the full funding for the school. >> All right. Uh I uh what I see here is that we have new numbers. >> Mhm. >> Uh that reflect different

543
03:03:21.920 --> 03:03:39.359
um that reflect different needs perhaps that we might be able to cover uh with the current budget that we are that we discussed for three weeks. So, is that means that we're going to have to look at the new numbers and analyze

544
03:03:39.359 --> 03:03:55.359
everything and be able to figure it out that 594,794 that is missing. That's what that's what we're discussing here. >> So, at this point, um I'm not an attorney. I I'll rely to the city clerk, but we need to make a decision on the

545
03:03:55.359 --> 03:04:13.399
current budget as presented to you. the council needs to um make a decision on this budget and then if needed um the administration uh we can have a conversation as to what the next step will be. >> Yeah, we can come up with a solution. Uh councilors any questions

546
03:04:14.240 --> 03:04:30.560
>> just to um can you >> to re just to reiterate and I think this is kind of outlined in what we talked about at the beginning of the um conversation as a council you have the ability to um approve reject or to cut or reduce. You cannot

547
03:04:30.560 --> 03:04:46.560
add to the budget. However, the mayor who is here can add to the budget and you can accept changes from the mayor. You just cannot propose those changes yourself. >> Do you >> That's correct. Uh councelor councelor Reyes

548
03:04:46.560 --> 03:05:04.319
>> as if we can take it that option in consideration uh with the funding we left from the public school for transportation is the mayor can offer differing >> uh yeah well essentially um they can but

549
03:05:04.319 --> 03:05:22.000
I um but I think that we should we should look at the numbers once they present it. So right now we received an email today >> and and essentially we have analyzed the budget for three weeks >> with different numbers. So what are the

550
03:05:22.000 --> 03:05:35.920
implication of those numbers and if there is a missing amount of 594 797 794 so are they are we going to be able to fund that amount to uh fully

551
03:05:35.920 --> 03:05:55.040
um budget for the needs. So the administration need to come up with a plan if this council decide to uh make a determination on the budget. >> I if I may council president >> um the budget um as it stands um

552
03:05:55.040 --> 03:06:14.720
includes the prop 2 and a half of last year's levy as well as the new growth >> that is a total of 3,900,92. So >> that equates to Yep. I'm sorry. >> What you're saying is that yes, we are

553
03:06:14.720 --> 03:06:32.399
increasing the taxes for 2.5 2.5%. >> Yes. >> And we also have the new growth of $1.5 million. >> That's correct. >> Which is also >> So the total is 3,900,192. >> Okay. The average single family tax bill for

554
03:06:32.399 --> 03:06:49.279
the city of Lawrence for someone the average single house let's say is um assessed or valued at 479,29. That's just the average um assessed value of a single family home.

555
03:06:49.279 --> 03:07:04.560
such family home. Uh the current tax bill, our current tax rate for residential is $8 and uh 54. The current bill is $4,140.

556
03:07:04.560 --> 03:07:23.120
What does this 3.9 million equal to for someone that owns a residence that's about that cost or that uh value? The additional will be $21. Now if we were to increase

557
03:07:23.120 --> 03:07:46.399
the 594,000 um the total is going to increase from 300 3,900,000 to 4,494,986. Instead of the additional monies being 201 then um

558
03:07:46.399 --> 03:08:04.720
sorry the 172 goes to 201. So there's there's a difference um of let's say the 3.9% I mean sorry 3.9 million is 4.2%. The 4.4 million is 4.85%.

559
03:08:04.720 --> 03:08:22.000
Just to kind of give you an idea what that would mean. Council President. >> Yeah, I understand. Council, yes. Let me hold on a second. Council, yes. Do you still want the floor? Uh I want to ask you some

560
03:08:22.000 --> 03:08:42.240
some clarific clarification on this kind of explanation because uh I try to figure out what is that mean because we try to find out uh what is the mo way to we can keeping our

561
03:08:42.240 --> 03:08:59.040
transportation for our youth and our community. Uh when you're talking about the different amounts for the tax increase uh when you offer uh the two different amounts >> uh one among is we how transportation the another amount is including

562
03:08:59.040 --> 03:09:19.399
transportation when it's something separate. >> Sure. So if we go back to page uh 103. >> Okay. The original number as recommended uh per the mayor was $317,451

563
03:09:21.200 --> 03:09:37.520
163. >> That number had a little bit of a gap in transportation as well as leases. The school CFO submitted an email today addressed to uh this body, the

564
03:09:37.520 --> 03:10:00.640
counselors as well as the administration based on the new numbers received from from the state the Senate version of the cherry sheet. The new numbers are 318 million45,957. That includes 100%

565
03:10:00.640 --> 03:10:21.840
funding transportation and 100% funding the leases. >> Okay, >> this leaves a variance of $594,794 and I just gave uh an approximate amount of what that means if we were to tap

566
03:10:21.840 --> 03:10:37.600
into the tax levy capacity. Our tax levy capacity at the moment is $13 million, which means the city has not taxed the city residents for $13 million.

567
03:10:37.600 --> 03:10:52.720
If if the administration wishes to uh amend or supplement the budget to include that $594,000, the difference in taxes would be the numbers I just read, which I can read if

568
03:10:52.720 --> 03:11:10.720
you'd like me to. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Good. >> Yeah, I'm good. Thank you. >> Actually, um, thank you. Uh, the capo just answered the question I was going to ask, so I'm good. >> All right. So, counselors, any other

569
03:11:10.720 --> 03:11:25.680
questions? >> Yeah, this LA, >> I just want I got two sets of numbers. One with the 59, what is it? the uh 594 794 and one without. So if we

570
03:11:25.680 --> 03:11:41.120
had just as it is with the two and a half plus the new growth, what's the additional amount that the taxpayers and average single family taxpayers will be paying? What is that number? >> Uh with the $3.9 million, correct? >> 3.9. That's right.

571
03:11:41.120 --> 03:11:57.600
>> Yes. So the increase will be again I I don't want people to think this is how much their tax is going to increase by. This is a very um complicated formula as it comes to the assessed value of your property. This is for a property that's

572
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valued at the average in Lawrence is $479,000. >> If your house is value at that, then the additional tax increase will be $172. Now, if your house is valued a million2, right,

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>> the additional will be $525. >> And on the flip side, there's the where the $21 come in. If it if you if if there's an increase in taxes by a 594794, then that's going to be a 201t total

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additional tax. >> That's correct. >> There we go. >> Yes. Uh counselors, any other questions? A lot of numbers, a lot of saying and a few documents.

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So I think that you know we should receive that information and read it through and and uh and potentially analyze it. >> Council President, >> Council Infante, >> thank you. We also received, speaking of that, I mean this this this update of the school we received at like 5

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something p.m. Majority of us work full-time job. We are not here in city hall 9:30 to 4:30 or I mean 9 to 4:30 >> or until 7:00 p.m. on Tuesdays. We've received a bunch of memos today as well.

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Like a a lot of documents throughout the day. I get the notifications on my phone, but if I'm busy with my job, I'm not going to open that because during that time, my priority is my my day job, you know. So, some of us work for the

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state that they have to keep keep a keep a distance between their their public service and their state position. So, I I agree. I think I think a lot of a lot was thrown at us last minute. Um, now that I'm thinking through it and um

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I would like more time at least to >> I got a question as well. >> Thanks. So the assertion that we've heard is because of the new numbers that were given to us by the school department is

580
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that we have the busing has been taken care of and the school lease issue has been taken care of but there's a def there is a deficit of 594 thou almost $600,000.

581
03:14:37.840 --> 03:14:56.960
We if we were to pass this budget today, would it be unbalanced? Because we're there's a deficit of almost $600,000. >> That means we wouldn't be funding 100% of both. >> That's important. Go ahead. >> Right.

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>> That's important to say. So So we So that that that bears repeating. So, I'm going to interpret it the way that I heard it, which means that maybe it's fully funded the leases, maybe the transportation, or maybe you have you do most of it, but you're going

583
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to still be a little short on those amounts of of this of the um the $600,000. And that's where if if we vote on this, that's where we have to be creative. I think again, you know, I think that if we're and I don't know what's the

584
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priority here, the people in this room probably would say the busing's the priority. Other people may say it's the leases. It's all it's all. So, I understand the difference, right? But we have to, I think, come to an understanding as to

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who's going to make the call as to which gets more money if we pass this budget the way it is. The administration >> probably the school >> the the school makes the call. >> I see. We don't know. Let's >> Well, that's that's that's that's an

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important question figure it out. >> That's an important question. >> Yeah. I agree. Let's dend. They need to figure it out once they get to us and then we analyze it. We reduce, approve or deny. >> But we're not here to allocate. So if we

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start going into that direction and then we we going to start doing something that is not within our prerogative. We have a budget that have a need of about $600,000 to to support the need of the of the of the community. So we have the

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decision to make whether we approve this budget. We we deny the budget or we reduce the budget. And then after that, the administration will figure it out as of what they need to do when it comes to that specific amount that they want to fund. If they want to increase the levy

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limit and then they tap into that and then we they're going to come in front of us. We're going to analyze that at that moment. We cannot do that right now because that that has not been proposed. Uh so I think that that's fair >> and I think that once we receive we have

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we have plenty of time >> if we deny the budget today or make any changes on the budget today the 45 days begins >> and or perhaps if we don't do nothing and then until we have until the 25 I

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believe >> 27th 20 >> and we have a meeting on two days so we can reconvene >> in two is making a decision today because we're not leaving without making a decision >> and then

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we can proceed. Any other questions? >> Yes. >> I Oh, no. Go ahead. That's okay. >> Councelor either or sent >> I'll be brief. Um maybe it's somewhat of a comment. Um and it's based on my understanding as to what's being

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presented to us. The first budget, as someone in the public had mentioned, was off of the backs of the students that were going to be uh the ones primar primarily affected by this budget. Then with the with these new numbers, you

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know, and I want to be corrected if I'm wrong. Now, it's coming out of the backs of the residents or the taxpayers. Um, and you know, I've had discussions with the mayor and I know that the >> where No, Go ahead. No, I might I want to be corrected if I'm wrong, you know,

595
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based on what I'm understanding because tapping into the tax levy capacity, >> it's raising tax property taxes. >> Um, so again, I I I know that this isn't a favorable route for some of us either. Like it's

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03:18:50.080 --> 03:19:05.439
these two options. Um, I I'm not comfortable with. Um, and what makes me a little bit more uncomfortable about it is because I feel like if I was to at least see some efforts

597
03:19:05.439 --> 03:19:21.680
from the administration to to make cuts on things that are not necessary and if that even upon doing that, we are still falling short and we have to now do this, then I'll be all for it. But because I don't see that and this is

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that what we're resorting to is where I'm struggling with. Um but I'll just leave it to that because it's something that I need to marinate on. It's information that um as our our madam chair for budget mentioned it's a lot of documentation that we received today not

599
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allowing us sufficient time to to review these documents and to make a for me to make a decision today. >> No. No. and and uh council marmood and it is important to recognize the following. Uh we we we don't know what is that they're going to present to us.

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If we get to that point, the first thing we need to do is make a determination on this budget so the administration can proceed with the next option. potentially they can come out in front of us with another budget that is not what we discussing because we cannot we

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cannot say this is what they want to do because we it's not on paper. So this is saying one thing then eventually they might find another way. Um so let's allow them to do that. So a vote yes to this budget means that we're going to approve the budget as presented uh with

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the numbers of on the school side of about uh 317 451 163. If both if we vote no on the budget that means that the budget is denied and they're going to present something new.

603
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So yes means approve it as is. no means is deny and they're going to present another budget potentially in two days. >> So any other questions? >> Yes. >> Huh. >> And then it's it's it will be the same thing. Uh because and then when we

604
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approve it, if we approve it, um that's when the split need to happen. >> Uh counselors, >> any other questions? Madame clerk, uh please call the role. Just to clarify, this is a vote on the

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03:21:17.120 --> 03:21:34.000
FY26 budget to um approve >> or to deny it. Um it's the last time we sat with you council. >> Yes. Mean approving a vote. No means denying. >> Exactly. >> The new numbers with the new >> with the budget is present. But then they haven't present the new budget. >> So the numbers that were just read to

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us. >> That's not that's not a budget. Once they present it, we analyze it. >> So this is not part of it. >> Uh that's not part of that. This is not part of it yet. >> Okay. once they present it to us and then we analyze the overs and we make a determination at that point.

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>> Okay. >> So I'm going to start with you council Gonzalez. This is on the budget. >> No. >> Council Miguel. >> No. >> Council ammo. >> No. >> Council Ponte. >> No. >> Council Reyes. >> No. >> Council Del Rosario.

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>> No. >> Council plant. >> No. >> Council vice president Levy. >> No. >> Council President Rodriguez. >> No. What's the count? >> No. 90 years. No, >> I need proceed. I need to do the process. I need to do the process.

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Motion uh fails. So that means that this budget that it was presented fiscal year 2027 is been denied and a a new uh a special meeting for the budget fiscal year 2027 will be on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

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>> Wednesday or Thursday? >> Wednesday. Wednesday. >> Wednesday. >> Wednesday. Next Wednesday is two days as per >> want to recess from this meeting. >> Yeah, we're going to recess. >> Okay. >> Um >> it's the same meeting though because

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otherwise post for a new meeting. >> It's already this is already posted >> and on the agenda. >> So at this point I will entertain a motion to recess. >> A motion to recess. Secondly, second

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discussion. There is none. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. I have it. Any minute for Thursday. >> What? >> That's already posted. >> Oh, another one.