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People in New Bedford care about their tax bill.
That’s why so many candidates for City Council are beating the drum of fiscal responsibility. That’s why the council so feverishly looked for budget cuts this year. That’s why Mayor Jon Mitchell has so publicly implemented financial austerity measures (even though he’s not on the ballot this year).
Yet murky rhetoric has obscured the signature issue of the campaign season. Many candidates’ talking points misunderstand the budget. Many challengers admit they’re not yet familiar with the budget.
In interviews and across the campaign trail, some incumbents have framed budget increases as a full-blown crisis, including the Ward 1 and 3 councilors Leo Choquette and Shawn Oliver. Choquette has touted his previous proposal to “level-fund” the entire government, or not allow for a single dollar of budget increase — a proposal which did not make it on to the council’s agenda and which Mitchell called “not serious government,” according to Choquette.
Oliver, in his initial candidate interview, said his all-encompassing goal on the council was to “rein in spending with the out-of-control budget.”
The council also voted to cut education spending below the state minimum before it was later restored. Council President Shane Burgo defended that move in a recent candidates forum, saying, “In order to make the necessary investments that we need, we have to send a message. In order to send that message we have to make those drastic cuts.”
Some challengers have also taken a hardline stance on the budget, including R. Reneè Fernandes, a Ward 5 challenger, and Christopher Cotter, an at-large challenger. Each has said they were motivated to run because of a budget that was “unacceptable,” as Fernandes described it.
Meanwhile, other challengers have said in interviews and public appearances that they’re not familiar with the budget.
Jennifer Arruda said, “I am still working out reading the budget,” and “this is not my strong point,” during a recent candidates forum. Devin Byrnes said, “I’m not going to proclaim I’m an expert on this,” but said he didn’t want to cut schools. Shaun Mulvey said, “I have to learn what is going on, look at the numbers,” in an initial interview with The Light.
For all the talk of the out-of-control budget, or those who admit to not understanding it, here’s what’s really going on.
What’s in the budget? Why is it going up?
First, the tax rate in New Bedford is going down, and has been for several years. Residential taxpayers are paying $11.31 for every $1,000 of assessed home value. This year, that means a tax bill of $4,492 for the average single-family homeowner in New Bedford.
If homeowners are seeing their tax bills rise quickly, it’s because the value of their home has increased — not because of increasing tax rates or runaway municipal spending. In fact, the average single-family tax bill in New Bedford has increased in sync with national inflation in recent years. (The city’s $4,055 average single-family tax bill in 2022 would translate to $4,580 in 2025 dollars.)
So while homeowners might be seeing a higher bill than they’re used to, it’s actually a smaller slice (lower tax rate) of a rapidly-increasing pie (higher home value). And overall, tax bills have not outpaced inflation on the average single-family home.
Yet the city’s budget is way, way bigger than it once was. How could that be?
The answer: New Bedford has received much more state aid for education in recent years, after a change in the education formula brought consecutive years of historic funding increases. (In Massachusetts, state education aid is known as “Chapter 70,” for the relevant section of state law.)
Since Mitchell took office (during the 2013 fiscal year), state aid for education has gone up by $140.6 million. That accounts for 69% of the increase in New Bedford’s general fund during Mitchell’s tenure.
Education spending (including state aid and a smaller amount of local funds) now accounts for 65% of the city’s general fund budget, up from 43% in 2013.
In other words, the budget has grown largely because more money is available from the state. To “level-fund” the government or “rein [it] in” would require turning down these historic increases in state education funds. And that funding now accounts for more than half of all the general fund revenue.
And as education has become the driver of New Bedford’s budget, it is worth noting that by far the most common complaint about the schools is that they hire too many administrators. As the Schools Superintendent Andrew O’Leary has pointed out, this complaint does not reflect today’s reality in the district.
New Bedford schools spend less on administrative costs than neighboring districts, several peer districts, and the statewide average. The increased spending on schools has largely gone to hiring more teachers than ever before — including rectifying years of underinvestment in special education teachers and English as a Second Language teachers.
Still, residents may hope for a greater return on investment in the form of improved educational outcomes, which has not yet happened in New Bedford.
The school district’s budget is mainly the purview of the elected School Committee, but the council also approves it as part of its budget process.
In the portion of city spending that the council more directly oversees — non-education spending — increases in pensions and insurance are large portions of the cost. Meanwhile, the general government spending (in the mayor’s office, assessor’s office, facilities and fleet management, and information technology) has actually decreased since 2022.
The single largest expenditure in City Hall remains the pension obligations. Already New Bedford spends more every year on its unfunded pension obligations than it does on its police force, The Light previously reported. That annual cost is expected to almost double by 2035, as the city races to meet a deadline to fully fund its obligations.
With all this mind, taxes and the budget remain one of the most significant issues that residents will face in the coming years.
The city’s housing crisis has seen rapidly-increasing rents in recent years, created one of the tightest housing markets in Massachusetts, and has contributed to an ongoing homelessness crisis. More expensive mortgages and construction costs underpin why new housing has been so difficult to bring online, and ever more city resources will be needed to alleviate the crisis.
Candidates for City Council will have to navigate these and many more budget challenges. For those candidates who responded, The Light asked how they would bring about their priorities for the city’s budget, whether and how they would advocate for more state aid, and what ideas they had to increase the tax base.
Email Colin Hogan at chogan@newbedfordlight.org
The present city budget is $550.8 Million Dollars not $500 Million Dollars and no matter how the budget is presented the problem is the budget has gone from $247.3 Million Dollars in 2012 to the present day approved budget of $550.8 Million Dollars (a staggering rise of $303.5 Million Dollars).
Right after the election taxes will go up again, these increases have crushed taxpayers (home owners and businesses) and also causing rents to escalate. The City has dug a hole so deep that it is almost impossible to dig it’s way out of and it’s a big reason why new businesses are not coming here when they can go to neighboring cities and towns and get a better tax rate.
No one wants hear this but New Bedford cannot continue to run on Non Profits, State Agencies, and having to rely on State Aid. This city needs to reduce the size of city government, looking at all departments, and making cuts across the board to correct the direction of the city or there will be no city and we will end up in receivership.
Great article.so much for the council bluster. The only question is do the councilors and these candidates know they are misleading voters with rhetoric, or are they mislead themselves.
For 18 years I have warned that increasing the operating budget without any new revenue sources would put our business’s and homeowners in a precarious situation where you would have tremendous tax increases on a yearly basis. Running a city on the backs of homeowners and business’s is not sustainable. The last balanced budget was 16 years ago un Scot Lang only because Fred Kaliz left him 27.million $ in an unreserved balance fund. Since then our Mayor’s have gone on a spending spree. 6years ago with covid in a two year period Jon Mitchell’s budget increases by 149 million dollars with large revenue losses. Now we have 300 million dollars in revenue sources and a 551 million dollar operating budget. This practice of spending money we don’t have has to stop. Our city is ripe for receivership. We need councilors that are FISCAL CONSERVATIVES. THE PAS 12 Years under this council only Linda Morad and Brian Gomes have fought this mayor on his growing government without any new revenue sources. Time to get rid of some councilors and this Mayor’s overspending. SHAMEFUL.