BROCKTON — City councilors made a largely symbolic $7 million cut to the schools as they passed a $572 million budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
Mayor Robert F. Sullivan had proposed $18 million for school transportation. Instead, city councilors unanimously agreed to $11 million. Ward 6 Councilor Jack Lally said the cut was “an attempt to bring some responsibility” to what city councilors say are free-spending ways entrenched in the Brockton Public Schools.
The $7 million will still be in the city’s general fund, Lally said. Educators could come before the city council later and ask for the money.
“We want them to come back and tell us how they’re performing,” he said.
The school transportation cut is separate from a decision by Sullivan to budget $6 million less than the School Committee asked for. Acting Superintendent James Cobbs said educating an influx of special needs students required the spending to avoid costly fines.
Cobbs was not available for comment Tuesday, but Brockton Public Schools Director of Communications Jordan Mayblum emailed a statement on behalf of the schools: “The district will do the best work it can with the resources available and will work collaboratively with the City of Brockton as future needs arise,” Mayblum said.
Here’s the 4 budget cuts
The $572,324,987 budget passed 9-1 with one councilor out of the room. At-Large Councilor Jean Bradley Derenoncourt voted “no,” though he had voted yes on the individual appropriations leading up to that final vote.
That’s $7,950,000 less than Sullivan had asked for. Here are the four cuts city councilors made:
- $7,000,000 from school transportation (signed by all 11 councilors)
- $600,000 from consultants (cut sponsored by Ward 1’s Tom Minichiello, passed unanimously)
- $300,000 from non-overtime personnel services in the Mayor’s Office (cut sponsored by Derenoncourt, passed 8-3)
- $50,000 from non-overtime personnel services in the Water Department (cut sponsored by At-large Councilor David Teixeira, passed 7-4)
City councilors are only allowed to accept or reduce parts of the mayor’s proposed budget. They may not increase line items. State law requires that cities and towns balance their revenue and spending, so the budget had to be passed before June 30. The fiscal 2025 budget imposes no layoffs among city departments but leaves jobs unfilled in what Sullivan has called a “level-services” budget. It aims to provide the same level of services (think police, fire, trash pickup, etc.). Even after the city council’s cuts, the fiscal 2025 budget is $18 million higher than this year’s.
Councilors change votes amid fear of state takeover
A dramatic reversal came during Monday’s meeting before the fiscal 2025 budget vote. The city’s chief financial officer, Troy Clarkson, asked councilors to transfer $3.7 million from the police, fire and the DPW to cover school transportation costs in the current fiscal year (the one ending June 30.)
At first, councilors voted 6-5 not to make the transfer. But Clarkson pleaded with councilors to reconsider, given that overseers from the state are poised to take over the schools, the city or both.
“I can tell you that the commonwealth is watching very closely,” Clarkson said. “Another consequence of a ‘no’ vote and not meeting our obligations could very well be a state takeover.”
One after another, councilors asked permission to change their votes, as is allowed before the city council president officially “calls the vote.” In the end, the $3.7 million transfer passed 10-1.
“We need to send a message that we all tighten our belt together,” Councilor-at-large David Teixeira, one of the vote-changers.
Minichiello, the Ward 1 councilor, blasted the schools for not taking mind of financial consequences.
“This body exposed them for who they really are, for how they make decisions without any regard for the taxpayers of Brockton,” he said. “They do it because they can do it and this body is not going to tolerate it. We’re only changing our votes because we care about our city, and we care about the taxpayers, who had nothing to do with this.”
The lone hold-out was Ward 3’s first-term councilor, Phil Griffin, the former chair of the Brockton Redevelopment Authority. He said Brockton’s experiment with bringing its school transportation in-house won’t work. He said contract costs will only increase.
“The ship’s heading to the rocks and the schools are driving it,” Griffin said. “Get some control over there.”
School Committee member defends BPS
School Committee Vice Chair Tony Rodrigues pushed back against the idea.
“I think the council is deflecting from their own issues,” Rodrigues said Tuesday. “There’s a lot of equal blame for how we got here.”
Rodrigues said the schools are doing their part to right the ship, citing as evidence a $10 million freeze in spending.
“It doesn’t happen overnight,” he said.
The Ward 4 representative said the school committee is working to reform the transportation department.
“The biggest issue is how we fix the transportation department,” said Rodrigues.
Councilors don’t understand how education is funded despite several of them having previously served on the school committee, Rodrigues said.
“Council is not educated enough on how education is actually funded,” he said.
Send your news tips to reporter Chris Helms by email at CHelms@enterprisenews.com or connect on X at @HelmsNews.
