CITY COUNCIL: tough talk by Finance Committee, city officials on tax override

Even if Prop. 2 1/2 override passes, cuts in city personnel, services still likely, all agree

By Steve Freker

As he recited the projected numbers, department by department, the air seemed to leave the room quicker with each digit, finally getting to the last one. When he added them up, he might as well have been swinging a sledgehammer. “Yes, about 60,” Malden City Controller Chuck Ranaghan told Finance Committee Chairperson Carey McDonald, when asked directly how many municipal jobs were projected to be on the chopping block if local voters ultimately decline to approve a proposed Proposition 2 1/2 property tax override.

“That is sobering news, for sure,” Councillor-at-Large McDonald said, after Ranaghan gave a scenario of potential force reductions in the Malden Police Department, Malden Fire Department, Malden Public Library staff, Department of Public Works and general city staff.

The Malden City Council’s Finance Committee convened Tuesday night for the first time since last week’s historic full City Council meeting where Mayor Gary Christenson formally requested Council approval of a ballot question calling for a Proposition 2 1/2 override. Mayor Christenson’s request for the specific amount of $5.4 million, coupled with an estimated $3 million saved with a municipal employees’ health plan switch, would cover an $8.4 million structural deficit in the FY26 city budget. The $5.4 million raised would add up to an estimated $346 in one-time increase in property tax for the average homeowner, with Malden’s single-family home’s median price at $653,000, according to figures provided by the Mayor and his team last week.

Tuesday’s meeting consisted largely of questions and, sometimes suggestions, regarding what might happen financially and what might be done to lessen the impact on the community, namely cuts in personnel and services. The timeline of the discussion ranged from present day — real time— to the next coming months, and projected into the next fiscal year, FY27, and even five years from now.

Councillor McDonald, the chairperson of the Finance Committee, was methodical in running the meeting, which was one of longest committee meetings of the year at two-plus hours, and used a step-by-step approach to ensure that all Councillors and any department heads from the city were heard. Ranaghan, who is the city’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) as the controller, spent the majority of the time at the City Council podium, fielding questions and often referring back to other city leadership team/department heads in the audience for either confirmation when answering or additional information to complete an answer. Like last week’s full City Council meeting, it appeared every municipal department head was in attendance, as was Mayor Christenson and his top mayoral leadership team of Special Assistant to the Mayor Maria Luise and Chief Strategy Officer Ron Hogan. It is the first time in recent memory that a Malden mayor has been in attendance at two consecutive municipal meetings convened by the City Council, owing to the present gravity of the city’s financial situation.

Unlike last week’s full City Council meeting, where the discussion centered on the “nuts and bolts” of the override request, namely, “how much,” “why” and “when,” Tuesday’s committee used more stark terms. “We are in an emergency situation,” said more than one Councillor, the first time that term had been used publicly.

Ranaghan stressed that all financial numbers and all information regarding the proposed override are available to all on the city’s website — www.cityofmalden.org — under the tab on the front of the website titled “Proposition 2 ½ Override”.

Ranaghan and others made a strong point of referencing previous statements made last week by members of the public regarding what “type” of dilemma the city faced. “This is not spending problem, this is clearly a revenue problem,” he said, offering a slide and chart showing that Malden spends the least per capita than five other peer communities, far less than Everett, Revere, Somerville, Peabody and Salem.

Councillor-at-Large Craig Spadafora, who has been the most vocal Councillor on the city’s financial status and future, both this term of office and for many years he has served in the past, made it clear that this request for a $5.4 million override was for this year’s budget and that “We are chasing something we are not going to catch.”

What Councillor Spadafora was referring to with the last statement was the vast gap — which he estimated last week and this week at $30 million— between State Chapter 70 funding for the Malden Public Schools and what other Gateway Cities, such as Everett, Chelsea and Revere, were receiving. “We are going to be missing that funding every year as long as the [Chapter 70] formula does not change and we keep falling further and further in the hole,” Councillor Spadafora said.

Spadafora, McDonald and Ranaghan all pointed to the fact that the City of Malden is mandated by the state to provide 51 percent of all school budget expenditures.

Ward 6 Councillor Stephen Winslow reiterated points made by Councillors Spadafora, McDonald and others on the brick wall the city faces in state education funding. “Something has to be done. We are out of time and we’re still facing the same situation.”

Councillor Winslow recalled his former employment with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in another period of financial turmoil. “I was laid off myself [by the state]. We are talking about people’s lives, their careers. We must explore every avenue to address this serious situation,” he said.

Ward 2 Councillor Paul Condon, who has served in parts of five different decades on the City Council, in two separate lengths of service, recalled when Proposition 2 1/2 first came into effect in the early 1980s. Heavy personnel layoffs followed in Malden, including police and fire positions, as well as over 35 teachers from the Malden Public Schools. “That was a very painful time for our community. Those are people who have mortgages, college tuitions, rents, car payments, you name it,” Councillor Condon said. “This problem is not going away, we have to do something now.”

“We don’t have the money, plain and simple. How can we pay money [for our schools] they say we are mandated to pay if it doesn’t exist?” Spadafora said. “We are done asking. We should go to the Governor’s office and demand relief. That is what we should do right now.”

Councillor-at-Large Karen Colón Hayes asked Ranaghan if he or any of the other city leaders knows of any actions the City Council could take right now to alleviate the deficit situation now or in the near future. “What can we do now? We would like to know if the City Council can do anything , any actions we can take to help,” Councillor Colón Hayes said. “We are ready to act. Please tell us how we can address this.”

In some specific suggestions where cuts could be made, Councillor Condon referred to some jobs that were added to the city side with American Rescue Act (ARPA) funds, then kept on the budget. “We should look at those jobs first,” Councillor Condon said. Ranaghan explained that there only about two full-time and several part-time grant-funded jobs.

Ward 1 Councillor Peg Crowe brought up the Community Preservation Act program, which sets aside a certain percentage of property tax revenue for use on vetted, designated municipal projects each year. “I’m not advocating for it, but is it possible to pause the Community Preservation Act for a year or more?”

Ranaghan, after consulting with another department head, said that he would have a more complete answer next week, but did verify that the CPA hold was about $1 million, which goes directly from property tax revenues to the CPA fund. Ranaghan said he would be able to provide more information on all of the suggestions and questions that needed a more complete answer at next week’s meeting.

After the last Councillors asked their questions and Ranaghan made his final points, Councillor McDonald announced that discussion on the override would continue at a future Finance Committee meeting, probably next Tuesday evening, October 14.