WORCESTER—City Manager Eric Batista writes in his introduction to his proposed fiscal 2025 budget that since being appointed in 2022 he has worked with the city to “improve what we do and how we do it.”
Batista’s recommendation of a $893 million budget to Worcester City Council on Tuesday will show a $25.8 million increase (or three percent) over fiscal 2024.
“While resources are thin, I believe this budget moves us forward on our path by continuing past progress and laying out the goals and objectives critical to our nascent strategic plan.”
The budget’s revenue stems from state aid, property taxes, and local receipts, without drawing from any free cash as revenue, a departure from fiscal 2024. The most revenue growth would come from property taxes (4.9 percent increase), state aid for education (5.4 percent increase), local receipts (7.3 percent increase), and local aid (2.9 percent increase).
“We anticipate solid growth in the property tax and are budgeting new growth of $7.5 million,” said Batista in the proposed budget, adding that the House of Representatives has already approved school funding increases of $333K and decreases local aid by a million.
As with every year, a majority of the budget funding goes to education, which represents $533 million, or 60 percent, pegged for Worcester public schools, charter schools, school choice and special education. This represents a $27 million in education funding, with $23.8 million of that earmarked for Worcester’s public schools. Batista said that the required increase local contribution to education funding ($7.2M) “is the highest in more than a decade.”
Under the Chapter 70 formula, while state aid for education has increase by $100M over the past five years, the city’s local contribution has jumped by $20M over that same time period.
Batista said the budget commits a three percent cost of living increase to city workers, and he is proposing targeted increases to members of cabinet, who do not have automatic step increases.
Fixed costs, such as pensions, health insurance and debt service, are anticipated to be $165M, which is a decrease from fiscal year 2024. Debt, however, rose nearly $5 million due to investments in parks, schools, streets and sidewalks.
Batista will also present the FY2025 capital budget, which focuses on a 2025-2029 capital improvement plan, which proposes an annual borrowing of $136M, 30 percent which is related to the public schools or Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) projects.
The capital improvement plan includes major equipment purchases, such as $1.6 million for fire prevention vehicles and $745K for police cruisers. Batista recommends an investment of $104M in facility improvements for fiscal year 2025, including the construction of the new Doherty Memorial High School and upgrades to the Worcester Arts Magnet Elementary School.
Infrastructure recommendations for the CIP include $7.3M earmarked for park improvement efforts and $15.5M for water related projects.
Batista writes that the CIP for 2025, “represents a solid investment in the city and will assist in maintaining our capacity to respond to present conditions while setting the foundation for continued growth and expansion.”
Worcester City Council meets on Tuesday, May 7, at City Hall in the Esther Howland (south) Chamber at 6:30 p.m.
Charlene Arsenault can be reached at carsenault@theworcesterguardian.org
