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After months of budgetary back-and-forth, the City of New Bedford announced Wednesday that the state would appropriate $1.3 million to keep the New Bedford Fire Department’s Engine 9 open — as long as the state Legislature approves it.
The line item is a part of Gov. Maura Healey’s newly filed bill to suspend the state’s gas tax for two months amid rising fuel prices. According to a news release from the city, the appropriation comes after weeks of discussions between Mayor Jon Mitchell and members of Healey-Driscoll administration.
Fire Station 9, located in New Bedford’s North End neighborhood, had been slated to close this fall as part of broader layoffs and program cuts to resolve the city’s $32 million budget deficit. Under the mayor’s proposal the city would have needed to eliminate 58 unfilled positions and lay off 34 people, eliminating 92 positions in total.
News of the station’s closure was met with fierce pushback from public safety officers and city councilors, many of whom pointed out that New Bedford has one of the highest rates of structural fires per capita in the state. Mitchell countered that he would consider keeping the station open if the Fire Department agrees to lower its staffing standards from four firefighters per truck to three, bringing the city closer in line with other municipalities in Massachusetts.
“Our feeling is and always has been that he just doesn’t value what we do,” Billy Sylvia, president of New Bedford firefighters’ union, said at the time. “The correct staffing allows us to respond in a proper manner and have enough people on scene to actually do our work correctly and efficiently stop property loss.”
In May, state Sen. Mark Montigny announced he had secured $500,000 in state aid to keep the station open temporarily.
But those funds were only ever meant to be a stopgap fix, and Mitchell said at the time that he would continue to work for a longer-term solution.
That solution now arrives in the form of the state’s Municipal Public Safety Staffing Program (MPSSP). Currently, just 10 cities are eligible for funding from the program, including Fall River, which received $1.6 million from MPSSP last year. Mitchell has long advocated for New Bedford to become the 11th, and if the Legislature approves, it will.
Still, as the Light previously reported, New Bedford’s budget woes run deeper than a single fire station. Fast-inflating pension costs stand to keep the city’s finances underwater without deeper cuts or new revenue streams.
“To be sure, the long-term financial challenges facing the City, driven by unrestrained pension and employee health insurance costs, remain with us, but my hope is that the additional state aid buys us time for compromise with our local public employee unions, members of the City Council, and Retirement Board,” Mitchell said in a statement.
Governor Healey visited Station 9 in New Bedford on Sept. 28 to meet with city firefighters, union representatives, lawmakers and Fire Chief Brian G. Medeiros.
“It’s so important, and it was really important to me that this station stay open and that it stay staffed. And that’s why I wanted to come forward with the money. Public safety is job one in government, and I really appreciate the work that’s done by men and women in public safety across our state, including here in New Bedford,” Healey said.
The funding provides one-time relief, but Healey said the state is working to find longer-term solutions.
“We’re looking at what long-term things we need to do to make sure that all of our fire departments across the state are well-resourced and well-funded,” she said. “We’ll be out with public safety grants for other communities soon.”
Healey did not say whether the funding came with requirements, such as maintaining current staffing levels.
“What I can control right now is the amount of money we can get out the door to municipalities, to New Bedford to keep the station open.”
Healey emphasized New Bedford’s economic importance to Massachusetts and her commitment to the region. She cited investments in Leonard’s Wharf, the state pier, Homer’s Wharf and South Coast Rail, along with forthcoming funding for shellfish work to support fishing.
“It’s a very important region economically to Massachusetts, and obviously a region that I want to see supported, including when it comes to public safety.”
Eleonora Bianchi contributed to this report.
Email Brooke Kushwaha at bkushwaha@newbedfordlight.org.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Sept. 28 to include information about Gov. Maura Healey’s visit to Fire Station 9.
“The State”? Did somebody say “the State”? But it requires Legislative approval! Are there any other Cities or Towns in the same situation? A lot of favors are going to be needed on this one, and it’s only good for ONE year! Not sure what the Polymarket odds on this are, but I would gather, not good. Are other communities better managers of their budgets and departments than New Bedford?
Considering the low property tax rates in New Bedford relative to comparable cities in Massachusetts, the state should absolutely not be paying this bill. The city council and the mayor need to accept reality that they can’t have excessively low taxes and fully-funded city services.
$31 Million Dollars in the hole and a budget that has more than double in over a decade, and taxes that continue to rise. It’s not about raising taxes, it’s about electing new leadership (the mayor’s office and the city council), building private economic development that creates new tax revenue and brings jobs, this city needs a new vision for the future.
The ever escalating requirement for the Commonwealth’s “welfare payments” to the City of New Bedford to secure resident safety is a major and compelling impetus for Receivership.
Mayor Jon Mitchell has never had a viable plan to extricate New Bedford from his ongoing fiscal mismanagement other than endangering the safety of the public and “begging” for more Commonwealth bailouts.
The Commonwealth should “bite the bullet” and address this perpetual drain on their resources by the City of New Bedford
All the negative Neds and Nellies are out here,again rather than applauding the mayor and Gov for quietly working behind the scenes to restore funding to keep Sta 9 open are bemoaning that its only for a yr.Isnt half a loaf of bread better than none..it will meet the station open it will prevent layoffs and it will give more time for they city and firemen to sit down and compromise..NB is a gateway city its not rich..in my view the problem is not pensions paid to retired city workers who gave their service to rhe city its the $495 million in cuts imposed on Mass by the current Federal Admin whichbl hurts all of ys BUT especially the workers of our less wealthy Gateway cities Aim your firehose at them and vote to restore the cuts in state funding
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Talk about lost in space, with a $31 Million Budget Deficit and a city budget that has more than doubled in over a decade you do not applaud politicians (governor, state legislators, mayor, and city council) that have turned New Bedford into a city headed for receivership.
Your points are the very reason Receivership is the best path forward for New Bedford. New Bedford’s Municipal Government is a “welfare fiefdom” of both the Federal and Commonwealth Governments.
Mayor Jon Mitchell closed Fire Station 9 in New Bedford and voluntarily endangered public safety to “punish” the Firefighters Union and garner support for his supplication to the Commonwealth for more funding because of his failed fiscal policies.
New Bedford is not a rich city and it has gotten even poorer since 2012.
Median household income has declined, relative to inflation, from 2012 to 2025.
There is no fiscal plan to change this trajectory, only plans for requesting further government aid for self induced fiscal mismanagement.
The deficits will be progressively ongoing and larger with each ensuing fiscal year. Applaud that fact, as our local leaders become the perpetual mendicants on Beacon Hill.
15 years ago running for Mayor I pointed out that spending money or increasing the city’s operating budget without any new revenue sources would put our city in jeopardy of of going into receivership. The only way to avoid being taken over by the State is to put a freeze on hiring and through attrition bring the number of Municipal employees to a reasonable level that would allow our city to run efficiently. This fell on deaf ears with the Mitchell Administration. Not only did this Mayor not listen but he created to many new positions that weren’t needed to run our city efficiently. Positions like Assistant Superintendent of schools and assistant to the Assistant. And many other positions in the School Department that are unnecessary. There many other departments throughout our city government with the same scenario. Positions that are not needed. To many of our city’s departments are over budgeting at the same time that we have had revenue losses. 3 years ago running for Mayor again I warned that increasing the operating budget could lead to a huge deficit and the potential of the city going into receivership. I thought that would be bad for our city, but nothing could be as harmful as this Mayor having another four year term. SO MAYBE RECEIVERSHIP IS THE BEST WAY TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS CAUSED BY THE MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS THAT ALLOWED THE BUDGET TO GROW AND DEPARTMENT HEAD’S !!!
Now the state needs to monitor those funds. Making it impossible for the funds to be mismanaged and keep them directly where they are intended.
This failed governor rides into town and makes a donation for votes, but with a $31 Million Dollar City Budget Deficit, the same problem will be here next year. The new governor must mandate a revision to the state aid formula and this Mayor has to make a full blown effort to create Private Economic Development to build more bigger tax baseor this city will contine to have budget issues, higher taxes and remain in welfare state.