Mitchell and Burgo Clash Over $10M Budget Cuts in New Bedford

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell announced “austerity measures” the City will take after the New Bedford City Council cut $10.2 million from the mayor’s budget, but City Council President Shane Burgo is calling those measures “fear tactics.”

The two sent out dueling press releases Friday, with Mitchell stating the expected cuts to city services and Burgo responding that the mayor is throwing “a tantrum.”

In Mitchell’s release, the City referred to his budget as "a conservative fiscal approach.”

READ MORE: New Bedford Mayor Announces Austerity Cuts

“The proposed budget reflected a reduction in the number of positions in city government and achieved new efficiencies, while preserving core services,” the release stated.

Yet the city council still proposed 1,309 cuts to the budget, ultimately voting on 448 of them during its marathon “Cut Night” on June 17.

Mayor: Council "Hastily Voted on a Raft of Cuts"

“The CFO’s office and our department heads worked hard to hold the line on spending and provided the council with the information it needed to make sound budgetary decisions,” Mayor Mitchell said. “The council is well aware of the pressures on the budget, especially the diminishment of state aid and the rising costs of pensions and employee healthcare.”

“The council chose not to adopt reasonable healthcare reforms that have long been in place in nearly every municipality in our region, which would have relieved pressure on taxpayers,” he said. “Instead, they hastily voted on a raft of cuts with hardly any deliberation, which reduced spending in areas that the City is legally required to support, and in other areas that will result in the contraction of key services.”

Mitchell’s release said that “many of the cuts will render the City unable to satisfy certain of its legal obligations, including spending required by state law on the school department and employee healthcare, as well as on certain contracts such as for network security and trash pickup.”

Council President Responds: “Fear Tactics” and “Tantrums”

Burgo issued a responding press release with the topic line “Enough with the fear tactics.”

READ MORE: Council President Responds to Mayor's Austerity Measures

“As President of the New Bedford City Council, I feel obligated to respond to the Mayor's latest announcement of so-called ‘austerity measures,’” Burgo began his release. “Once again, he is resorting to his usual doom and gloom tactics to scare the public and deflect attention from his administration's inability to budget responsibly. These are not serious solutions. This is political theater.”

READ MORE: Burgo Won't Seek Council Presidency Again Next Year

“Every year, the mayor throws a tantrum when the council exercises its rightful authority to rein in overspending. Every year, we are met with fear mongering headlines, service closures, and dramatic claims intended to punish the public for the council doing its job,” he said. “But the truth is, we've seen this movie before, and the people of New Bedford deserve better.”

Mitchell Says “Service Reductions” Include Libraries and Fire Station “Brown Outs”

Mitchell said the budget cut will result in “service reductions” that will affect the city’s libraries, parks, veterans and fire stations.

He said there will be a hiring freeze for non-public safety agencies for the first quarter of the fiscal year, as well as the elimination of the van driver position for the Department of Veterans Services. The City will also no longer be introducing Citibot, an AI-powered virtual assistant that can use chat capabilities to help citizens with issues and help with service at City Hall.

The Casa da Saudade Library will be completely closed, while there will be a reduction of operating hours at the Wilks and Lawler libraries. There will also be a deferral of the city-wide census and certain capital maintenance projects at City Hall and Waldron Barracks, along with sidewalk repairs.

The mayor said there will also be a “reduction in grass cutting and other landscaping at city parks,” and that there is the potential for “browning out” fire stations “due to council cuts to fire department overtime.”

“Let's be clear, this minor reduction does not justify shutting down stations,” Burgo responded. “But given the mayor's long history of hostility toward the fire department, it's sadly no surprise he would seize this moment to continue that assault. This is not the conduct of a serious leader. It's the behavior of someone more interested in playing politics than governing effectively.”

Burgo: Police Budget Is “Budget Padding”

The mayor’s release stated that “The council reduced the police department’s budget by $1 million and the snow removal budget by 33 percent. The administration will attempt to manage both of these reductions, as well as significant cuts in other departments.”

“Let's talk about the police department,” Burgo said in his response. “The mayor is making noise about our $1 million reduction, yet fails to mention that over 20 police positions remain unfilled, and more police are expected to retire.”

“The math doesn't lie. Funding for positions that don't exist or won't be filled in this fiscal year only serves to artificially inflate the budget,” he said. “Taxpayers are being asked to fund salaries that aren't and won't be paid. That's not public safety planning, that's budget padding.”

Mitchell Will File Supplemental Budget Requests

Mitchell is submitting supplemental budget requisitions for the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center, after the council voted not to fund the City’s contractually-obligated support agreement with the non-profit organization that runs the Z.

READ MORE: New Bedford Mayor Slams Council's Zeiterion Budget Cut

READ MORE: Zeiterion Restoration at Risk as City Council Cuts Budget

Other supplemental requests will include software and network security contracts that protect against cyber threats, and restoring funding to the City’s trash contract, which Mitchell said is “necessary to maintain services such as bulky-item pickup.” “Failure to do so will likely result in more illegal dumping,” according to the City release.

The largest cut made by the council on “Cut Night” was $1.7 million from the budget for New Bedford Public Schools.

Mitchell is submitting a supplemental request of $3.29 million for the school department to reach net school spending requirements that the City must meet under state law, as well as funding to enable full payment of the school department’s bus contracts.

Burgo said that when it comes to the failure to meet net school spending, Mitchell is being “dishonest.”

“What's even more dishonest is the way he framed the school budget situation,” Burgo said in his release. “He conveniently left out that he himself cut nearly $5 million from the school department before ever submitting the budget to the council. Combined with our $1.7 million adjustment, that's a $6.7 million reduction, the majority of which came directly from the mayor.”

“From day one, the council's approach to the school budget has been clear. We would review the finalized state budget, calculate the foundational formula, and restore whatever funding was necessary to meet our net school spending obligation,” he said. “That has always been the plan, and we are now following through. To act as though the council is somehow to blame for the need to restore these funds is not only disingenuous, but also deeply misleading.”

A Path Forward to Restore Some Funding

The New Bedford City Council next meets on Thursday, July 17, and Mitchell said that “the Administration is prepared to answer its questions as it considers these proposals.”

Burgo said the council will “remain ready and willing to restore funding where it is factually justified,” as has happened in the past.

“But we will not blindly approve inflated budgets based on hypothetical needs or political pressure. We demand accountability, transparency, and fiscal discipline. Something this administration has consistently failed to deliver,” he said.