City budget – Everett Leader Herald

25k worth of city flowers wilt on the vine because of no watering

City officials have privately conceded that about $25,000 of flowers displayed in hanging pots on the city’s light poles have wilted, died, and been thrown away recently because they were not properly watered or watered at all.

Budget discussions should have meaning: But they don’t

By STEVE PINTO

As the city council pretends to scrutinize the budget, it’s simply the usual exercise of going through the motions.

Let’s face it, city spending is out of control.

The mayor has no boundaries when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars.

There will be no meaningful cuts regardless of what Councilor Fred Capone motions for.

All raises will go through. All revolving accounts will be fully funded. All unnecessary spending will be approved.

It’s an election year.

The puppets don’t want to upset the puppet master, our mayor.

They want his support. They need his support.

And he needs theirs.

The city council doesn’t understand budgets and taxes. Either that or they just don’t care.

This I know, the city council can’t have two masters. It must have its own mind and make its own decisions.

The mayor must try to do the same.

Capone wants new EFD hires to be fire firefighters first

EFD Ladder 1 battling a multi-alarm fire on Bellingham Ave. Saturday. (Photo by Kevin Wiles)

Grills Chief Carli on recruit’s role

By JOSH RESNEK

Councilor Fred Capone questioned Fire Chief Anthony Carli about 20 new firefighter hires against the backdrop of Everett firefighters having fought two major fires during the weekend.

New firefighters haven’t joined day-to-day line forces in Everett for the past five years.

Firefighting suppression resources have been lacking here.

The chief was quick to defend the department, which is now training approximately 20 new firefighters to act as EMTs first and firefighters second, as the city morphs into having its own emergency ambulance service.

A five-alarm fire in Revere on Endicott Avenue brought Everett firefighters to the scene on a nearly all-day call which required mutual aid companies from out of the city to be stationed in firehouses here.

A day following that fire, a fire on Bellingham Avenue emptied Everett’s firehouses again until the fire was suppressed.

City pays out $1.2 million for what?

The city recently paid out 1.2 million to the law firm of Mintz Levin, and specifically for representation led by former Governor Bill Weld.

The objective was to show Eversource, the electricity generating giant with a firm foothold here on our waterfront, who the boss is.

The opposite appears to have happened.

Eversource has shown the city who the boss is – and God bless them – they didn’t pay outside lawyers $1.2 million to achieve their end.

Everett paid – that is the mayor approved the payment of $100,000 a month – for the “negotiations” over-taxation of the Eversource property.

Eversource remains the city’s largest taxpayer at $15 million a year.

What exactly was the $1.2 million paid in $100,000 increments given to Mintz Levin forgiven the fact that the city’s chief assessor is now doing the negotiations himself?

Budget raises more questions than answers

By JOSH RESNEK

The Mayor is hard at it again, spending your money without any regard or consideration of what it takes to earn it.

Last week the Leader Herald published an article about the City Council rubber stamping the Mayor’s elaborate – and over the top – spending plans.

The article highlighted Councilor Fred Capone’s question of a line item in the City Budget that boosted spending on flowers and holiday baskets from $280,000 in FY2020 $495,000 in FY2021.

That additional $215,000 (a 76.78% increase) over the previous year’s budget amount will be funded by your tax dollars.

And make no mistake, if you own property in Everett, you are paying the excessive bill for the Mayor’s extravagant spending.

Even if you do not own property in Everett, you are still paying the bill.

When property taxes increase, your rent increases.

If a landlord can no longer afford to keep paying higher and higher property taxes and the City does a tax foreclosure, you may need to find a new place to live.