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On June 22, City Council members will face one of the most important votes of the year: how to close a $32 million budget deficit without significantly disrupting city services.
Councilors have met with department heads across city government, scrutinizing spending plans, staffing levels and proposed cuts. At hearings, the councilors questioned department heads about the administration’s proposals.
Several themes surfaced during the hearings. Council members raised concerns about employee reclassifications that changed job titles, pay grades and salaries, which they said made it difficult to track positions and compare staffing levels across departments.
They also examined the role and cost of the two chief of staff positions within the mayor’s office. They asked about the consolidation of five city agencies into the newly created Department of Health and Human Services. The administration says the move is intended to streamline operations, but some councilors have raised questions about oversight and efficiency.
Council President Ryan Pereira of Ward 6 said the budget hearings left him with the impression that the mayor’s proposal had been assembled in a rush, contributing to confusion over employee reclassifications and leaving some department heads unprepared to answer questions.
“This is my fifth budget year now, and I have never been more confused,” Pereira said.
Ward 4 Councilor Derek Baptiste and Ward 5 Councilor Joseph Lopes said they have already identified the budget cuts they plan to propose ahead of the June 22 vote.
“The only thing I can say is that we are going to do what is best for the people of New Bedford,” Baptiste said.
“This is my fifth budget year now, and I have never been more confused.”
— Council President Ryan Pereira
From the hearings
At the May 26 budget hearing, Stephanie Sloan outlined the city’s plan to merge five departments into a new Department of Health and Human Services. Sloan, the former health director, is in charge of overseeing the new department.
It will combine recreation, veteran services, community services, health, and licensing under one department. The change will take effect July 1, according to city public information officer Jonathan Darling.
“This consolidation has resulted in $1.2 million in cost reductions to the city,” including layoffs and salary freezes, Sloan said. “This year’s budget season and the proposed decisions around it have been one of the most difficult I’ve seen in my 10 years here with the city.”
Sloan said the merger will better integrate community services. But councilors questioned how the city would maintain services while reducing staff.
“How do we reconcile not skipping a beat but eliminating 13 positions?” Councilor-at-Large Ian Abreu asked.
Sloan said the largest reduction would be in youth programming and that the department is still assessing which services would be lost and how staff could be reorganized to fill any gaps.
Not all councilors were convinced.
“I believe it will not work,” Councilor-at-Large Brian Gomes said. “I don’t care who is in charge. You don’t mix recreation, veteran services and community services with health.”
Questions about the mayor’s two chiefs of staff also surfaced during the hearings. During the mayor’s office budget presentation, Councilor-at-Large Shane Burgo challenged the need for two chief of staff positions.
One of the chiefs of staff, Neil Mello, said the positions serve different functions. Mello supports the day-to-day operations of the mayor’s office. Christina Connelly, the chief operating officer, focuses primarily on coordinating departments.
“I’m not trying to say these people aren’t important, that the work that they do is not,” Burgo told The Light. “It’s just that when we’re talking about priorities, I think we need a firehouse and we need the schools funded as well.”
The proposed fiscal 2027 budget reclassifies an associate solicitor position in the Police Department as a chief of staff, raising the salary by more than $37,000 and moving the position up five pay grades. The change drew criticism from Pereira, who questioned both the reclassification and the pay hike.
“I have major concerns,” Pereira said. “I don’t know if that’s right. I can’t justify that right now.”
Reclassification
Burgo and Pereira also question the new budget’s employee reclassifications, which change about 24 city workers’ job titles and salaries. The number of reclassifications is unusual, they said: The city proposes reclassifications every year, but never this many.
Under normal circumstances, Burgo said, reclassifications are intended to ensure employees are compensated appropriately for the work they perform.
But, Burgo argued, “In a year where we’re at 94 positions [that] have been cut out of the budget, you’re blacking out the fire station, you’re cutting $4.5 million from the School Department, you shouldn’t be reclassifying people.”
A record obtained by The Light shows a change in 24 job titles from fiscal 2026 to fiscal 2027 in the general fund. One position, from the Treasurer-Collector’s Office, was eliminated.
Most of the reclassified positions came with increases in pay grade. Altogether, the changes represent about $114,000 in additional salary costs for General Fund positions, a city document shows.
Only six of the 24 reclassifications are part of the cost-saving Department of Health and Human Services reorganization.
Reclassification is based on an analysis of added responsibilities, job requirements, operational needs and resource availability, said New Bedford Personnel Director Jose Gouveia in a statement.
“The reclassification process is initiated by the department head and subject to multiple reviews, including the Personnel Office, Solicitor’s Office, Auditor’s Office, CFO’s Office and Mayor’s Office,” Gouveia said. “Reclassification is a process commonly used in municipalities and other large employers.” He noted that the 24 reclassified position changes represented a small fraction of the city workforce.
For comparison, Fall River’s chief financial officer told The Light the city is proposing about 10 reclassifications in its upcoming budget. Brockton’s chief financial officer said the city reclassified 10 positions last year as well, noting that reclassifications are not an annual occurrence in their city.
Cuts in sight
Councilors who spoke to The Light already have ideas about what cuts they want to propose.
“I’ve said it to the administration during these budget nights a million times: We’re cutting one of the chief of staff positions from the mayor’s office,” Burgo said. “They have not been able to explain to us the need for it.”
Pereira said he believes city employees, with more than 90 positions eliminated from the proposed budget, have taken “enough of a beating.”
Instead, Pereira said he would look at supply accounts, travel budgets and contractual service accounts for cuts, along with reductions in services to help offset some of the proposed increases.
As for the mayor’s office positions, Pereira said he is waiting to hear back from other municipalities with smaller staffs to better understand how their offices are structured and what roles employees perform.
“I’ve said it to the administration during these budget nights a million times: We’re cutting one of the chief of staff positions from the mayor’s office. They have not been able to explain to us the need for it.”
— Councilor-at-Large Shane Burgo
Proposed budgets in Fall River, Brockton and Lowell show mayor’s office staffs of four, nine and two employees, respectively, compared with seven in New Bedford.
Ward 1 Councilor Leo Choquette said that as he reviewed the budget, he struggled to find areas he would not consider cutting if it meant keeping Fire Station 9 open.
“Literally everything is out there potentially,” Choquette said.
The first cut he plans to propose is to travel budgets across city government, including those of the City Council and the mayor’s office.
“If we can’t have an open fire station serving a quarter of the city up here, then no department is going to get travel expenses,” Choquette said.
Choquette said he would also support cuts to the City Council’s own budget if necessary.
“There are some city councilors talking about all of us taking a 5% or 10% pay cut,” he said. “I have no problem taking the cut if it happens, and I have no problem giving up the travel budget. We have, like, $8,000 for travel for the council. That’s money that should go to the fire station or go to the library.”
Email Eleonora Bianchi at ebianchi@newbedfordlight.org.
I am sure watching our city go through this budget disaster and see it turn into a blame game (it’s the mayor’s fault, it’s the city council’s fault) has been very stressful and disturbing for everyone.
The budget history shows us that this years proposed budget of $535.2 Million Dollars minus the 2012 Budget of $247.3 Million Dollars equals an increase of $287.9 Million Dollars (a city budget that more than doubled).
So this year getting the news the budget had tanked was a blow. A city budget just doesn’t tank over night, this is a failure that has been going on for over a decade due to no spending restraints, government expansion, failed economic growth, poor financial oversight, and no one having their eyes or speaking out on a city budget that was spiraling out of control (again an increase of $287.9 Million Dollars).
SO LET’S STOP THE BLAME GAME NOW, it’s clear all our elected officials have failed us and are responsible for this budget disaster and the state of our city.
The mayor’s solution to bridge a $32 million dollar budget shortfall includes significant service cuts, closing a fire station, 94 eliminated positions, and a $16 million property tax increase. (IT’ SHOULD BE CLEAR HE SHOULD NEVER RUN FOR OFFICE AGAIN).
So now it’s the Council’s turn, it’s great to hear the tough talk, but for years the Council has been a rubber stamp for this Mayor approving budget after budget after budget. Sure they made cuts in certain yearly budgets but it did nothing to stop the budget from more than doubling. So let’s see what happens this time, let’s see if the Council means what they say and actually do the job they were elected to do.
In the end the tax payers of this city are screwed, we need a fresh start, new leadership, a new direction, and a new vision for the future of New Bedford.
Whose fault is it?
The voters?
all our elected officials – have been democratically elected, not appointed.
The taxpayers decide who will lead.
Everyone, not incarcerated, pays taxes of some kind.
We have the leadership we elected.
We have Mitchell and Trump
Start where the waste is the most, New Bedford School Department.
Good comment and you’re right one of biggest issues in our city, while it gets state and federal funding, the school department has become the monster of the city budget at 61%.
Years ago the mayor made changes with city council approval by merging all school related services and growing the budget from 40% to 61% and now the majority of that 61% is untouchable and it handcuffs what can be cut and what can’t be cut .
This was short sighted and a big government failure and most importantly is not fair that all city departments that have to sustain major cuts, while the school department is allowed to continue to expand operations and increase it’s budget every year.
When you look at administrative costs the mayor’s top staff positions and payroll and than look at the school departments top staff positions and payroll (both staffs are top heavy and both allocate huge money).
With serious city budget issues that will continue to go on for years, there’s no way we will be able to operate this city and sustain the new spending, new expansion, and new growth of this school department.
More than ever our city needs change, it needs new leadership, a new direction, and a better vision for the future of our city.
You can only kick the can so far.
https://open.substack.com/pub/commonwealthnotes/p/you-can-only-kick-the-can-so-far
Thank you for sharing this link, it’s a good read.
I believe even if state aid was restructured and brought more funding into our city, it would have only been a band-aid, our elected officials would have continued to spend every dime they can get their hands on, continue to expand city government, and our budget would continue to grow.
In the end it would only be a matter of time before we would be in the same position again. What New Bedford needs is change, a fresh start, new leadership, a new direction, and a new vision for the future of our city.
Agreed! That was a good read. Thank you for contributing meaningful commentary to this discussion. Thoughtful opinions and actionable solutions, like yours, are getting lost on city budget talks.
To ensure public safety, related to Jon Mitchell’s proposed closure of Fire Station 9 in New Bedford, the utilization of either the Stabilization Fund or Free Cash Fund or both to keep this Fire Station 9 open is appropriate. This would likely be at least a two year commitment of funds as the City of New Bedford unravels its Gordian Knot of municipal finances. Funding at a yearly $2 million dollar level, with any approved Commonwealth monies utilized to reduce this commitment, would ensure public safety and allow time to negotiate others realistic solutions.
The City of New Bedford ignored fiscal reality for too long and it will take time and serious, ongoing action to attempt fiscal stability. If this is not achieved, then the reality of receivership by the Commonwealth comes into play.
The Commonwealth itself has fiscal realities that it must face and is not a viable source of “increased, inflation indexed unrestricted aid” to municipalities.
Governor Healy’s attempted raid on Commonwealth retirement funds speaks to fiscal malfeasance and instability. Only desperate businesses raid pension funds and they usually have no reimbursement plan for these funds taken, just as she has none.
The pain of the City of New Bedford starts at the Mayor’s Office and extremely serious cost savings start here. The “buck stops here” and it needs to be removed from this particular Mayor’s Office.
Realistically, there has been no private economic growth within the City of New Bedford in ages and the future prospects for same are grim and nonexistent. Unrealistic budget proposals, predicated on private economic growth, are detrimental to responsible fiscal planning and should be avoided. A flattened can is unable to be kicked any further.
Good luck in your endeavor and realize this is a multi-year, ongoing process if it is to have any chance at success.
School dept is one of the highest budgets ever. Yet, it has been the most failing under the current leadership. Teachers complain, support staff complains yet the superintendent ‘s leniency has made the school status failing as it is today. Wasting our tax dollars. We got what Albert and Howland voted for, their comments support the school department and city.
The fiscal crisis the city is facing is unfortunate, and not just kicking the can down the road. There were good points in the comments above, but most of the back and forth in the article appears to be frustration, ridicule, and an inability to compromise and come together. There are amateurs on the City Council, not all of them though. Only one has spoken up to offer cuts in their own budget and make sacrifices, others have not. The real question is, what are the true details in the devil’s budget, hidden deep in the crust. Yes there is a shortfall, a lot of discussion, talks of reclassification and cutting and/or merging departments, but what line items have become out of control. Is it the pension system that has increased dramatically, is this because of the current economic conditions regarding increased costs of operations, and if so, how much was the City impacted? Rising fuel, is this 2%, 5%, 10%, and what else has gone array in the budget. I’ll make this simple, y’all, especially those on the council for years, are responsible, so as one of the City Councilors has said, its time to look in the mirror and make cuts period, including travel for Councilors, freeze wages, no increases, there should be a freeze across the board for all workers or capped to only cover inflation, 4.8%, a COLA. The mayor must also make a sacrifice and cut the office staff. Time to introduce college interns, this could be a valuable asset for our future. One thing never discussed in this article in reference to the huge shortfall, and this is how about the working people in New Bedford, what happens to rents, landlords will have to implement future increases on working families, this will impact affordability of our citizens. Not one word is said. As for the complaint and blame on who is being voted in, if only amateurs run for office, then you get amateurs in elected positions who do not have the ability to do what is necessary. It appears that the basic approach to logic is lost, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, period.
Where’s the affordable housing?Surely not here!
After doing a number on the recall petition do you really think the city council can do anything constructive with the city budget. The mayor delivered the recall petition to the council years ago, where in sat in committee, the council made changes tripling the amount of required signatures needed to start the recall process. Watch the council meeting, the newly elected councilor James Roy tried to make some adjustments, but the other councilors shut him down and wanted no part of any changes. You often hear the council complaining about the mayor not working with the council, well the council did the same thing to Councilor Roy. So what was passed is a recall petition with such a high threshold for signatures required in such a short time that it’s basically useless and to hear the final comments (it’s not perfect, it’s something to get us started, it can be fixed in the future) is a complete joke. Just more kicking the can down the road and showed the councilors were more interested in protecting their own vested interests, instead of fighting for the rights and interests of the voters. Between this mayor and city council our city is in serious trouble.