Cambridge FY17 Budget Includes Millions for Local Renovations

Cambridge city councillors lauded a recently proposed $574 million city budget for the 2017 fiscal year that appropriated millions of dollars for projects in Harvard Square, and increased educational funding while holding property taxes relatively steady.

“We’ve managed to increase services and not cut services and still keep property taxes low,” Finance Committee Chair and Vice Mayor Marc C. McGovern said following Thursday's City Council Finance Committee meeting. “It is a pretty remarkable accomplishment in this day and age.”

Councillors praised initiatives, including a more than 5 percent increase in the school district budget, expanded contracts for non-profit organizations like food pantries, and bolstered funding for affordable housing units to combat what councilors are calling a housing crisis. McGovern touted the $146 million school complex on Cambridge Street that will include a brand new elementary school and middle school.

“The non-profit coalition coming together to do this needs-assessment is something I’ve been talking about under other terminology since the beginning,” Councillor Nadeem A. Mazen said. “We’re seeing a huge change in the educational equity organizing.”

Property taxes remained steady this year thanks to what McGovern called “free cash,” the spending of a reserve of money saved for emergencies like floods or for other projects.

“It’s about $195-or-so million,” McGovern said. “It’s really from just over the years our pretty sound fiscal management where they’ve put money on the side.”

According to the budget proposal, Harvard Square is also set to see small renovation projects. The budget includes a $4 million appropriation in FY 17 and FY 18 for renovations to Harvard Square and its Out of Town News kiosk. Earlier this year, the council debated such an appropriation, ultimately leaving the final call to the City Manager’s office. Three and a half million dollars are also appropriated for renovations to the “Eliot Loop,” an area containing Eliot Street, Eliot Plaza, Brattle Street, and Brattle Plaza.

The City Council plays a smaller role in the budget approval process than its does in other local affairs. While the Council ultimately has final say, City Manager Richard C. Rossi and his office were responsible for crafting the more than 400-page document. Despite this lack of direct input, Mazen claimed the Council still holds some sway over what goes into the budget.

“There’s a little bit of Ouija clout-pressure on the budget where things I’ve advocated for tend to find their way into the budget,” Mazen said. “The Council should have several looks at the budget before we see a hard-copy and a couple looks at working collaboratively as a council to define the budget ahead of time.”

Harvard pays property taxes on non-educational buildings and provides extra funds to Cambridge in lieu of taxes. MIT and Cambridge have a similar relationship. Not including payments in lieu of taxes, the two universities make up over nine percent of the city’s tax base.

“One of the things that we hear is that ‘well Cambridge has Harvard and MIT so anyone can put together a good budget.’ Harvard and MIT are huge resources for us,” McGovern said. “But there have been times when the city is broke and services haven’t been good.”

While not included in the FY 17 budget, earlier this week Rossi and Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone announced a joint effort to provide $75 million for the long-delayed Green Line extension project in northern Cambridge.

“Somerville and Cambridge will stand with the Commonwealth to advance the state of the art,” Rossi and Curtatone wrote in a statement. “We do so with the expectation that this is truly a new precedent for statewide policy, and that our communities will not be held to higher standards than other Massachusetts municipalities seeking state and federal financing for roadway, transit or other infrastructure projects.”

Rossi pledged $25 million from Cambridge, however such a plan must still be approved by the City Council. In a letter to the Council, Rossi said he would suggest the matter be forwarded to the City Council’s Transportation and Public Utilities Committee.

The pledged funds for the Green Line Extension mark a change in tone from Rossi, who said passing the city’s budget would be one of his final projects as City Manager. Rossi announced his upcoming retirement in March.

While the City Council has until June 6 to adopt a budget, the City Manager’s office has already predicted approval of the budget on May 23, when the City Council is scheduled to vote on the matter.

—Staff writer Joshua Florence can be reached at joshua.florence@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaFlorence1.