Mayor Robert Van Campen did not dodge the question Councilor Michele Capone said she hears most. “Will taxes increase this year? Yes,” he told the council’s budget committee on Wednesday, May 27. “I got elected on the platform that I wanted to be honest with this community even with the bad news.”
His first budget, $312 million, is about $12 million above the adjusted fiscal 2026 budget. Health insurance alone rose $5.8 million, the school department $3.4 million and negotiated union raises $2 million, “$11,200,000 before this Mayor even had an opportunity to start to craft his own budget,” he said. “We haven’t touched health insurance in 14 years. That is totally irresponsible. That is one of the challenges I’ve inherited.” Health insurance has grown about $13 million over the last two or three fiscal years, he said, and he has opened talks with the unions on alternatives, including the state Group Insurance Commission, which he called “just one option of several.” State Chapter 70 school aid rose only about $550,000, “pennies on the dollar for a school district like Everett.”
Chief Administrative and Financial Officer Omar Boukili said the tax increase should be smaller than last year’s once assessors finish their growth figures, but no number will be available until after July 1. Van Campen said he is studying the 35 percent owner-occupied exemption Councilor Anthony DiPierro proposed last year and will use free cash to hold down the rate. Asked by Councilor Peter Pietrantonio about layoffs, he said there are none this year, “but I will caution, next year could be an entirely different scenario.”
Take-home cars, vacation payouts and a $90,000 check
Van Campen said a policy effective July 1 eliminates take-home vehicles for all non-union, non-public-safety employees; code enforcement alone has eight to 10 of them. Public Works’ gas pump had no gauge, so one has been installed to measure which vehicles take how much fuel. He is also capping vacation carryover, which had been unlimited “to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars” in unfunded liability. “I had one staff person that I exercised my discretion to let go as Mayor. When I took office, I had to write a check to that person for close to $90,000 net for their unused vacation time,” he said. The mayor’s own salary is $239,793, set by a $185,000 base that rises each January with the consumer price index; he is declining the car allowance and returning about $3,650.
DEI office becomes multicultural affairs
The budget dissolves the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office, which Van Campen said was never established in the administrative code: “You can’t eliminate a department that doesn’t exist.” One position becomes an equity and access officer in human resources, serving as the city’s ADA coordinator, at a top salary of $82,000. The director’s job becomes director of the mayor’s office of multicultural affairs and community engagement. Councilor Vivian Nguyen pressed him on what expertise he consulted and asked him to define implicit bias; he said he has had the training and that “we all by definition have an implicit bias.” Nguyen said the plan “sounds like you’re equating multicultural to race and faith” and asked who would serve residents with disabilities and neurodiverse residents; Van Campen said the two new roles would. Budget Director Margaret Micherda said money for events that did not happen this year, such as Lunar New Year, returns to free cash. Councilor Katy Rogers called the rebranding “more inclusive in its verbiage” and asked that the role serve as liaison to the Cultural Council.
The one cut: $105,000 from youth development
Acting youth development director Roberto Velazquez, who has run the department since November at $116,000 while the director’s job sits vacant, said the city will hire about 260 teenagers this summer, down from about 300, and will put all 120 applicants aged 14 and 15 to work on a $125,000 beautification line at 15 hours a week. The wellness center will close for a couple of months with credits or refunds for members. Councilor Guerline Alcy Jabouin moved to cut the $105,000 assistant director salary; Pietrantonio seconded, saying the wellness center manager could help run the Rec and “we know we’re losing money up there.” Councilor Stephanie Martins voted no because Velazquez is himself the assistant director acting as director. The cut passed on a roll call, 5-4 by the transcript’s count, and the department budget was approved as amended. It was the only cut to survive in two nights of hearings; Pietrantonio’s motion to cut $80,000 from planning salaries failed earlier in the evening.
Finance: an audit held hostage, a hard-to-fill job
Interim City Auditor William Fowler, in the job since January 6, said the fiscal 2025 audit is very late “because of the hang-up on the 24 audit, which the prior audit firm would not release.” The city has signed a new audit firm and must complete a bond issue for all authorized but unissued debt before year end. Hiring a permanent auditor “is not going as well as I’d like,” he said: “There’s not enough people to fill the positions out there,” and the city will probably have to pay more than it wants to. His budget adds a senior grant manager and special revenue accountant because grants “did not expire on June 30” and were not set up in the proper funds. Micherda is reinstating a budget department with one new analyst; she said she alone manages $63 million in personnel expenses and has a retroactive-pay backlog dating to December. Smith questioned $29,000 for the ClearGov “transparency portal,” which Micherda conceded is “placed in the spot where it’s not visible” on the city website.
Also May 27
- 311 director Reno DeFilippis is ending weekend remote staffing, which handled about 2 percent of weekday volume, and returning $22,000; the office takes 100 to 150 calls a day. Rogers said she does not want to be “picking up the slack” on weekend complaints.
- Planning director Matt Lattanzi is adding a senior planner to staff both the planning board and zoning board and take over block grant administration from a consultant. The department planted more than 6,000 trees this year with 3,000 more scheduled, paid out $1.2 million in rental assistance in 18 months and $360,000 in first-time buyer aid, and will hire a part-time farmers market manager for monthly markets from June through October.
- Transportation director Jay Monty is converting consultant money into a transportation planner after securing $22 million for the Silver Line extension and a $1.5 million Sweetser Circle study; the city has had no GIS coordinator for five years. Capone said dedicated bus lanes are forcing Lower Broadway businesses to close at 4 p.m.
- Human resources director Ellen Collins said her organizing word for the year is “compliance”: new employment policies, a non-union classification study and OSHA, cybersecurity and anti-harassment training. Three unions, clerical, parking and nurses, are at the table.
- Treasurer Monica Ford will return $75,000. Pietrantonio questioned an $11,000 increase for the deputy collector; Boukili said the line aligns the deputy treasurer and deputy collector and “what it shows is that it was grossly underfunded.”
- Assessor Bennison Pena will return about $100,000 in professional services because the city expects to settle Appellate Tax Board cases rather than try them, and plans monthly or quarterly senior center sessions on exemptions. Ron Keohan returns to the office six to eight hours a week.
- Chief Procurement Officer Kiara Freeman, overseeing more than 300 active contracts and 6,000 purchase orders, is adding a procurement analyst; nothing is now approved without a joint signature from her and the auditor.
