CITY COUNCIL: No, they did NOT try to cancel Fourth of July festivities this year

Unanimous vote places proposal to scale back Councillor paychecks on file

By Steve Freker

As the Gatekeeper for the Wizard of Oz, stationed at the entrance to the Emerald City, once said, “No way, no how!”

Considering all the hullabaloo that sprung up that night, one would have thought someone proposed canceling Christmas, the Lunar New Year and several other holiday celebrations — in one fell swoop. Namely, not happening. You know, in Malden, it would not be too far removed from that in a lot of people’s hearts, especially the “Malden lifers” who have stuck around and took part in many a Fourth of July celebration. But to be clear though: NO City Councillor proposed calling off Fourth of July festivities in the city of Malden’s wards this summer. Not even close.

What was proposed, through a joint resolution sponsored by Ward 1 Councillor Peg Crowe and Ward 8 Councillor Jadeane Sica, was a package of budget cuts which — if all were accepted — would trim a total of $180,500 from city expenditures. The proposal included:

—The elimination of the line items associated with Ward Improvement Funds

—The elimination of the line items associated with Fourth of July Funds
—The elimination of the Council President annual stipend, an action that will be supported by the Body with a proposed amendment to city ordinances
—The reduction of annual base compensation for each member of the City Council by $7,500.00, an action that will be supported by the Body with a proposed amendment to city ordinances

The first action the Council took was severing the proposal about Fourth of July from the salary piece for separate discussion. The budget-cutting suggestions were aimed at showing that the Councillors themselves were ready to take “in-house” actions in light of the challenging financial straits Malden city officials have declared to be in effect.

“We have to give some sort of signal that we are willing to cut [the budget] and if this [override] does not pass, there will be a lot of cuts,” Ward 1 Councillor Crowe said. “We as a Council have to show that we are in this with the community.”

The City Council followed the request of Mayor Gary Christenson made in October and have sanctioned a citywide special election on Tuesday, March 31 where Malden voters will vote on a proposal for Proposition 2 1/2 Override, which seeks to raise either $5.4 million or $8.2 million in a one-time property tax increase.

After much discussion, the following sentiments were made abundantly clear:

—It does not get much more “Malden” than the Fourth of July celebrations held in the city’s individual wards and quite simply, they are not going anywhere soon, no matter where the funding comes from.

—There was little support shown in the discussion on the proposed salary reduction of $7,500, from the present $25,000 annually to $17,500. There was basically no discussion over the proposal to eliminate the $3,000 additional stipend paid to the City Council President, who now is Ward 3 Councillor Amanda Linehan.

“I love this job and sometimes stay here till 1:00 in the morning to finish it, but I am willing to do that,” Ward 5 Councillor Ari Taylor said. “I need this [Council salary] money to supplement my income; right now I have five jobs and some of them suffer so I can be here. I sacrifice every day for this job, we all sacrifice. I would do this job for free if I could, but I cannot.”

Councillor Taylor’s words actually drew a smattering of applause, including from those in the audience and, seated right to her, Ward 7 Councillor Chris Simonelli, who said, “That’s right, she’s speaking for most of us.”

Councillor Simonelli had earlier spoken strongly on the issue, saying, “You can take my whole salary and the health insurance, too; will my fellow Councillors do that? That would really make a difference. Then we should go down the list, line item by line item, asking every department head what kind of reduction they would take in their salary; that would be real money [saved].”

“We should put out money where our mouth is,” Councillor Simonelli added.

“I don’t sit up for $25,000 a year, and I would do this job for zero dollars. When I ran for office in 2013, it was about giving back to the community I grew up in, the community I love,” said Councillor Sica. “I do not do this for the pay; a lot of us city officials do not do this for the pay.”

Councillor-at-Large Carey McDonald added later in the discussion, “You get what you pay for when it comes to compensation. I will say this, you don’t pay me enough for the abuse I take online. Also, there is no way some people would be able to take and do this job if we reduce the salaries.”

“It is important to realize our labor for the government has value and deserves compensation,” Councillor McDonald added.

On a motion by Councillor Simonelli, the severed resolution on Council salaries was placed on file, meaning no further action would be taken unless the Council votes differently.

What was pointed to by several City Councillors is that most of the proposed budgetary actions would be subject to a change to the city ordinances governing them. The proposals to eliminate municipal Fourth of July and Ward Improvement funding were referred to the Finance Committee for review. The matter of changing City Council salaries and the President’s stipend was voted to be placed on file on a unanimous 9-0 vote of the Council with one recused and one Councillor absent from the dais.

As several Councillors emphasized, any action taken on any of the proposals would not affect the financial state of affairs for Malden this fiscal year, FY26, which ends on June 30. They would all be for the next fiscal year’s (FY27) budget, which is from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.

Coincidentally, Councillors Crowe and Sica are — like all of their colleagues — highly enthusiastic and extremely diligent down to the painstaking smallest details when it comes to planning, and then supervising, what has become a signature highlight of the years in all of the city’s eight wards in the respective parks. The three Malden Councillors-at-Large trek all across the city visiting all of the wards on the Fourth of July. With the assistance of municipal funds and bolstered by allotments from the various Ward Improvement Funds, none of the wards ask for any fees from those who flock to the parks on Independence Day. It is all no charge, free to all.

“I remember when my father used to take all of us to the park on the Fourth and we had little tickets to pull off, which we gave to get an ice cream, a drink or a hot dog,” Councillor Sica reminisced. “It was a couple of dollars for the book of tickets, maybe five dollars each.”

On the resolution, Councillor Sica stressed, “We [the Council] have to do something to save city funds in these times. In no way was there ever any thought to cancel Fourth of July in the parks.”

“In my ward I sit at my kitchen table every year around this [time] and stuff envelopes to send out to every business we have in and around our neighborhood — even others around the city — asking for donations to help fund our Fourth of July at Linden Park,” she said. “We are so grateful at how generous they are each year. What I was suggesting is that if we save the city of Malden funds, we just have to work harder to seek donations to help pay the costs.”

Councillor Carey McDonald, who chairs the Finance Committee, gave a brief overview: “We have discussed what kind of cuts we could be looking at if the override does not pass — how many police officers, firefighters, folks in the DPW, city services — in answer to those who may say that has not been offered.”

“What is incumbent upon us: to be ready to act if the override does not pass — what services we will see be diminished or lost and what events citizens love which will be cancelled,” Councillor McDonald said.