The DeMaria administration committed $3 million in linkage money to The Neighborhood Developers’ all-affordable project on Garland Street, counting on payments from large developments that have not pulled building permits, and the city now has to move up to $1.2 million from its stabilization fund to write the check, Chief Development Officer Monica Lamboy told the City Council’s Ways and Means Committee on Monday, June 22.
“The prior administration had made a commitment to the neighborhood developers for their project on Garland Street in a total of $3,000,000 in linkage funds, predicated on some of the larger projects to have come in for building permits and made their linkage payments,” Lamboy said. “Unfortunately, some of those projects haven’t yet pulled a permit, so the linkage fund is short by up to $1,200,000.” She called it temporary: when those checks arrive, the general fund will be repaid. Councilor Peter Pietrantonio asked, “Is this legal, what we’re doing?” Lamboy said the finance director had approved it. The project is under construction, “the foundation’s in, the whole nine yards,” Pietrantonio said, and the city has a signed document from the previous administration. “How do we promise a developer money if the money is not in the linkage fund?” he asked. “It just seems like everything’s coming back from this old administration.” Lamboy: “I can’t speak to the past, but I can speak going forward that we would not do it unless we had the money in the account.” Councilor Katy Rogers asked how many units the project has; Lamboy did not know offhand. Council President Stephanie Smith asked the solicitor to confirm the city is legally bound. The committee voted 3-1 for favorable action, Pietrantonio opposed.
Dispatch overtime
Police Chief Paul Strong explained a $60,000 transfer from fire department personnel to 911 personnel. The annual state 911 grant, $200,000, went in late because engineering was slow to assemble GIS mapping data, so dispatcher overtime from July 2025 to March 2026 came out of the budget, and a new dispatcher contract gave each dispatcher a $4,000 stipend for completing eight state certifications that “was never budgeted for.” The grant was not lost, but it cannot be applied to money already spent. “We won’t run into this problem again,” Strong said.
Permit fees
In Legislative Affairs the same evening, Lamboy and Building Commissioner David Palumbo presented the first building permit fee update “in at least five years,” with some electrical fees dating “back to 1998.” Residential, defined as six or fewer units, is separated from commercial; residential rates stay roughly the same and commercial rises “a couple hundred” dollars per thousand, Palumbo said, from a flat $15 per thousand for everything. Councilor Stephanie Martins warned that developers “pass on the expense to the end user” and asked which cities were used for comparison. The committee amended in a corrected electrical schedule and recommended it. Rogers’ ordinance to make plastic utensils and condiment packets available on request only was held in committee after Councilor Anthony DiPierro asked how it would apply to out-of-town restaurants delivering through apps; City Solicitor Jaclyn Munson said she would research it. “Even if it mitigates just a little bit of the litter, it’s better than nothing,” Rogers said.
