Since I was just a kid growing up here in Medford, it’s been clear to me that we were making do with too little. I ran for office to build a Medford for all, a Medford with well-funded public schools and city services. Much has changed since I became a city councilor six months ago, making the reality of underfunding in our city budget even worse. But my commitment to addressing that underfunding has not changed. That’s why I voted against the Mayor’s FY2021 budget at our June 30th meeting.

The City of Medford is now facing an even more serious revenue shortage due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing jobs and economic crisis. But we were in trouble before this crisis.

What we heard in our budget hearings, from department after department, is that we are “doing more with less” and that we have been “doing more with less” for a long time. Many departments haven’t recovered from the cuts made during the 2008-2009 recession. This year, the needs of our community are greater than ever, but the cuts are even worse.

Our schools are facing huge layoffs, with at least 30 educators, interventionists and support specialists that we had last year not returning to the schools in the fall. This comes at a time when students will need even more services to address the loss of jobs or dislocation of parents and guardians, growing opportunity gaps, and lost learning time caused by the shutdown and economic crisis.

There is no timeline to address the serious concerns with facilities for the Medford Fire Department, particularly the headquarters but also stations across the city. 

Our Board of Health and staff are working incredibly hard to protect our community during the coronavirus pandemic. We even learned that our state Department of Public Health expects the health department to be able to vaccinate our entire community within 72 hours when a vaccine is available. That’s a monumental task, and our Board of Health is already stretched thin. 

I haven’t mentioned the limitations we face at our Department of Public Works to address our roads, sidewalks, and other public infrastructure needs. I haven’t mentioned the needs in our Diversity and Human Resources Department, Office of Community Development, or the many other areas of city government that need additional funding to meet the basic needs of our community.

And then we get to the areas we don’t even see. We have a deep need to invest in affordable housing and housing stability; that’s not in the budget. Anti-racist actions in our city will require investments and funding. Food security and other essential initiatives are funded entirely by grants, some of which may not be around in the future.

We can and must do better. Medford deserves better. 

I am committed to investing in Medford. If and when funds become available from the state or federal government, I will advocate that the first dollar goes back to our schools to address the deep cuts made in this budget. After that, we need to look at restoring essential funding in our city departments and replenish the free cash reserves that protect our bond rating and keep debt service payments low.

Going forward, we need to truly assess the budget needs of our community. The Medford Public Schools have begun to do this by asking departments what they need to improve student outcomes. These are sometimes called a “wishlist,” but essential public services are not a wish, they are a necessity. Once we understand the true budget needs for Medford, we need to work together on a fair and equitable plan to bring in the revenue necessary to meet those needs. 

I want to thank our city and school staff for the very difficult work they undertook to create this year’s budget and bring it before the City Council. I want to thank the thousands of Medford residents who got involved in the budget process this year to improve our city by attending meetings, signing petitions, and speaking to neighbors and friends. I will keep fighting for the public schools and city services our community deserves. We push onward.