On Tuesday, June 11, the City Council convened to review and vote on the Mayor’s proposed FY25 budget (click to review budget). Watch the full City Council meeting here. In this phase of the budget process, the City Council can cut but can not add to the budget. The council made $62,290 worth of cuts which includes: … Continued
The following is a snapshot overview of the FY25 proposed budget in detail (note: these are subject to change between now and June 30, 2024): Consolidated Workbook of Proposed FY25 Budget FY25 Working Budget Detailed The proposed FY25 budget presented to the City Council is based on what we understand to be our revenue and expense … Continued
At the City of Holyoke in our downtown we have three parking garage facilities that require attention. These include: 1) Ernest Proulx Municipal Parking Facility located on Dwight Street; 2) Suffolk Street Municipal Parking located off of Suffolk Street, and 3) we have the parking deck directly behind City Hall. Price quotes to address the … Continued
Chapter 90 funds from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the source of funding Cities and Towns use to improve and maintain publicly accepted roads. The order of roads to be improved have been identified through our City’s pavement management system that rates the conditions of roads, usage, and determines the order of priority for repair. … Continued
The new budget preparation season is here! A memo to all departments with instructions for the FY25 budget planning process were distributed. While departments work on their first draft budget requests, I have been meeting one-on-one with City Councilors to go over their objectives and priorities. Their input helps me identify what some of the shared … Continued
The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) recently notified Holyoke officials that they will provide additional reimbursement for the new middle school construction project. The Owner’s Project Manager (Anser Advisory) has estimated the additional funding will be approximately $11.7 million, which would bring the MSBA’s total contribution to an estimated $57.6 million. This would reduce the … Continued
The following is a proposed supplemental budget for FY24 on its way to the City Council for approval (note: these figures are subject to change until final vote of the City Council). Proposed FY24 Supplemental Budget Consolidated Budget Workbook The updated figures are based on current revenue and expense projections to-date including revenue figures from … Continued
Statement from Holyoke Mayor Joshua A. Garcia regarding Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) consent decree: A new federal court judgment reduces the Holyoke sewer construction costs from over $170 million in the original partial consent decree to $35 million through 2035. This was a true team effort that allowed the city to effectively make its case … Continued
It’s been about 1 year and 8 months since I took office as Holyoke’s mayor. When I sought office, I had a dollars-and-cents ambition: to strengthen internal controls and better manage our municipal finances. I strongly believed— and still do — that if we cultivate a culture of responsible management, face-to-face communication, and a commitment … Continued
On May 16, 2023, Mayor Garcia delivered to the City Council a State of the City presentation along with the proposed FY24 City Budget. The technical summary and the workbook documents of the City Budget can be found here: https://www.holyoke.org/mayors-proposed-fy24-city-budget/ The following is the full text of the Mayor’s State of the City speech – … Continued
