Finance & Overrides

Our City’s Finances & Infrastructure

Our bond rating is still Triple A, but we’re in a “world of hurt” budget-wise. The impact of the Newton North project on our city’s finances is dramatic.  The debt service on NNHS is roughly the same as our entire budget deficit.  With a deficit this year alone of between 8-10 million dollars, cuts of jobs, services, and trimming of educational programs are becoming commonplace.

Some of our elected officials over the past decade allowed our municipal and educational infrastructure to decay and it’s simply unacceptable.  Our buildings continue to crumble, our schools have inadequate space, HVAC systems, communications, and information technology is outdated.

This is the time to right the ship, put ourselves on a sound fiscal footing, and get our revenue and expense growth on the same trajectory.  We can no longer trim around the edges and expect real results. 80% of our expenses are to compensation including benefits. 5% is debt service. Simply trimming or “zero-base-budgeting” the remaining 15% that funds all city services won’t solve the problem. It’s going to take real leadership and strong communications skills to make real progress, and I will continue my efforts to work with others on real solutions for the future of our city.

Amazingly, there are some who believe things are perfectly fine and all that’s needed is to continually ask taxpayers for more and more money each year via overrides. I disagree. We have the ability to grow our way to sustainability with a combination of cost controls, new growth, strong sensible policies, and working collaboratively with our labor unions via collective  bargaining. We’re off to a decent start and we need to keep the momentum moving forward.

Your support for Alderman Shapiro’s re-election will ensure pragmatic and independent thinking,  fiscally sensible and sustainable policies, and plans which keep the needs of our schools and entire city in mind.