City Council
City Council
lun, 27 de abril de 2026
Puntos de agenda
Registros de votación
Resumen del debate
Transcripción
RESUMEN DE REUNIÓNGenerado por IA
Quincy City Council — 27 de abril de 2026
Esta fue una extensa sesión ordinaria del Concejo Municipal (~4 horas), precedida por una breve audiencia pública y una reunión del Comité de Finanzas. La sesión abarcó temas de gran importancia, entre ellos una presentación general sobre la Community Preservation Act, un informe sobre deuda y finanzas previo al presupuesto del FY27, una revisión de una queja relacionada con la Open Meeting Law y varias resoluciones. Los nueve concejales estuvieron presentes.
Audiencia pública: Concesión de ubicación para servicios de gas de National Grid (2026-061)
A las 6:30 p.m. se celebró una breve audiencia pública sobre una concesión de ubicación para servicios de gas de National Grid en 1550 Hancock Street, Nukem Street y 78 McGrath Highway. No se recibió testimonio público. La audiencia cerró a las 6:32 p.m. Posteriormente, el pleno del concejo aprobó la concesión con recomendación favorable del Comité de Obras Públicas.
Votación: 9–0 a favor.
Comité de Finanzas: Ordenanza de salvaguardas fiscales (2026-007) — Enmiendas
El Comité de Finanzas se reunió nuevamente para continuar el debate sobre una ordenanza propuesta que establece salvaguardas fiscales, protecciones de reservas y transparencia financiera, presentada por primera vez el 13 de abril. La concejal Yuan propuso agregar una nueva sección de cumplimiento con cuatro subsecciones: (A) seguimiento del cumplimiento mediante un registro público mantenido por el City Clerk; (B) inclusión automática en la agenda ante el incumplimiento de plazos de presentación de informes; (C) requisito de explicación escrita dentro de los 14 días posteriores al incumplimiento de un plazo; y (D) una condición que bloquea la acción del concejo sobre apropiaciones o préstamos si los informes requeridos están atrasados.
La concejal Hubley solicitó que las enmiendas propuestas se distribuyeran con antelación en lugar de repartirse durante la reunión. La concejal Ash sugirió votar cada subsección por separado y expresó su preocupación por la subsección D. El City Solicitor Timmons advirtió que la adopción de cualquier enmienda requeriría una nueva notificación de la ordenanza, impidiendo una votación esa noche. La concejal McKee argumentó que era preferible votar y volver a notificar antes que posponer indefinidamente.
El concejo votó cada subsección por separado:
Sección A (Seguimiento del cumplimiento): Aprobada 8–1 (DiBona votó en contra).
Sección B (Inclusión automática en la agenda): Aprobada 5–4 (Ash, DiBona, Hubley votaron en contra; Riley a favor — recuento exacto según la transcripción).
Sección C (Explicación escrita): Aprobada 8–1 (DiBona votó en contra).
Sección D (Condición sobre la acción del concejo): Aprobada 6–3 (Ash, DiBona, Hubley y Riley votaron en contra según la transcripción).
Dado que se adoptaron enmiendas, la ordenanza debe ser notificada nuevamente antes de la votación final. El comité levantó la sesión; el asunto no regresará antes del 18 de mayo.
Foro abierto de residentes y comentarios públicos
Varios residentes se dirigieron al concejo sobre asuntos financieros y otros temas:
Hank Dondier rechazó las comparaciones entre Quincy y Watertown que se habían planteado en una reunión anterior, citando marcadas diferencias demográficas y geográficas. También cuestionó si los concejales que recibieron aumentos salariales los habían donado a la comunidad o a programas de la ciudad.
Gail Callahan (Ward 4, residente de toda la vida, 73 años) ofreció una perspectiva diferente, expresando satisfacción con los servicios de la ciudad — escuelas, policía, bomberos, parques, recolección de basura y control de roedores — y sugiriendo que el verdadero factor detrás del aumento en las facturas de impuestos son los incrementos en las tasaciones, no la tasa impositiva en sí.
Bob Haley (38 años de experiencia en finanzas municipales) planteó serias preocupaciones sobre la deuda de la ciudad, señalando que los préstamos a corto plazo aumentaron $200 millones del FY26 al FY27 (ahora $58 millones), y cuestionó por qué la ciudad solicitó una apropiación de intereses de $14 millones cuando el 5% de interés sobre $58 millones representaría aproximadamente $3.9 millones. También cuestionó si la zona de Downtown District Improvement Financing (DIF), que conlleva $19.6 millones en servicio de deuda en el FY27 frente a $8 millones en ingresos del FY24, es financieramente sostenible.
Ann Walker (Marshfield, esposa de un bombero) se refirió a la queja de Open Meeting Law que presentó contra la presidenta Mahoney relacionada con la reunión del 23 de marzo, en la que afirma que se le impidió indebidamente dirigir comentarios a concejales individuales. Citó precedentes del SJC de Massachusetts y argumentó que el presidente del concejo no puede restringir el discurso basado en contenido durante los comentarios públicos. También alegó que los concejales se comunicaban entre sí por mensaje de texto para conformar quórum antes de la reunión, y solicitó la divulgación de correos electrónicos bajo la ley de registros públicos. La presidenta Mahoney la interrumpió con el mazo por su conducta; el intercambio fue tenso.
Gina Favvada (miembro de la junta directiva, Quincy Climate Action Network/QCAN) habló en apoyo de la resolución sobre el superfondo climático de responsabilidad para contaminadores, e instó al concejo a ir más lejos — adoptando el código energético especializado de adhesión voluntaria (opt-in specialized stretch energy code), ampliando los programas de compostaje y reciclaje, y reforzando las protecciones de humedales. Indicó que QCAN se comunicaría con los concejales en los próximos meses.
Heather Dhoni, Brandon Lamb y Claire Miller hablaron a favor de la resolución sobre el superfondo climático (Item 8), explicando cómo el proyecto de ley haría responsables a las principales empresas de combustibles fósiles por sus emisiones pasadas sin trasladar los costos a los consumidores, siguiendo el precedente de la legislación sobre superfondos de sustancias tóxicas de la década de 1980.
Kathy Thron elogió al concejo por establecer comentarios públicos abiertos, comparándolo favorablemente con una época anterior en la que los micrófonos eran apagados y las cartas no recibían respuesta.
Sal Dargy (licenciado en Finanzas, MBA de Northeastern, tesorero del Squantum Yacht Club) expresó preocupación por lo que caracterizó como una estrategia fiscal de "gastar hoy, pagar después", la distribución desigual del gasto de capital, la aplicación insuficiente de multas y el cumplimiento del impuesto empresarial, y la presión sobre la calificación crediticia de la ciudad. Instó a la cautela ante cualquier posible adquisición del campus ENT dado el nivel actual de deuda.
Jocelyn Sedney regresó con documentación adicional sobre los pagos del restaurante Quarry Hills a la ciudad, alegando que los informes trimestrales de 2022 contienen cifras engañosas y que una revisión de noviembre de 2024 realizada por Powers & Sullivan no constituyó explícitamente una auditoría (leyó la propia carta de los auditores en ese sentido). Instó al concejo a exigir una auditoría formal, señalando que el fondo de supervisión debería tener fondos suficientes para financiarla.
Stuart Row (Wallaston) advirtió que la afirmación frecuentemente repetida de que el DIF del centro urbano "se paga solo" es engañosa, ya que el distrito DIF expira en 2037 — apenas 11 años — y cualquier deuda no liquidada para entonces se transfiere al fondo general. Señaló haber dedicado aproximadamente 150 horas a intentar comprender el mecanismo e instó a la prudencia fiscal.
Presentación general sobre la Community Preservation Act
La concejal Riley presentó a Stuart Saganor, Director Ejecutivo de la Community Preservation Coalition, quien ofreció una visión integral de la Community Preservation Act (CPA) y el programa de Quincy. Puntos clave:
Quincy adoptó la CPA mediante petición ciudadana en noviembre de 2006 (57% a favor) tras la negativa del City Council a someterla a votación. La ciudad eligió un recargo del 1% con exenciones para los primeros $100,000 del valor residencial y una exención completa para personas mayores de bajos a moderados ingresos. El propietario promedio (con una valuación de $700,000) paga aproximadamente $71 al año.
Desde su adopción, Quincy ha recaudado ~$32 millones localmente y recibido ~$10 millones en pagos de contrapartida del fondo fiduciario estatal (totalizando ~$42 millones), marcando el 20.° aniversario del programa. La preservación histórica ha sido la categoría con mayor financiamiento, en consonancia con la historia de Quincy como lugar de nacimiento de John Adams y sede del City Hall y otros edificios históricos. El financiamiento para recreación creció significativamente después de que la legislación estatal de 2012 permitiera la rehabilitación de parques existentes.
El Quincy CPC de nueve miembros incluye representantes estatutarios de la Conservation Commission, la Planning Board, la Housing Authority, Parks & Rec y la Historic Commission, además de un representante del City Council (actualmente la concejal Riley, quien sucede a la concejal DiBona, quien sirvió ~10 años) y tres designados del alcalde a título personal. El CPC hace recomendaciones; el concejo debe aprobarlas. La mayoría de las apropiaciones requieren voto mayoritario; las compras de terrenos y los bonos requieren dos tercios.
Los concejales preguntaron sobre los requisitos de adquisición para solicitantes privados no pertenecientes a la ciudad (respuesta: las subvenciones a organizaciones privadas siguen la práctica estándar de subvenciones, no la ley de adquisiciones de la ciudad); sobre la emisión de bonos respaldados en los ingresos de la CPA (respuesta: es posible, más de 500 comunidades lo han hecho, y dichos bonos se reembolsan con el recargo del 1%, no con el fondo general); y sobre si los proyectos en propiedades del DCR son apropiados (respuesta: sí, es una práctica ampliamente utilizada en todo el estado). Saganor advirtió que la CPA no puede financiar mantenimiento ni operaciones continuas, únicamente mejoras de capital.
No se requirió votación; fue una presentación informativa.
Apropiación: $554,350.51 — Cierre de proyectos de la Community Preservation (2026-062)
La concejal Riley explicó que la City Auditor Susan O'Connor y la administradora de la CPA Karen Otoole compilaron una lista de proyectos de la CPA abiertos desde hace cinco años o más sin órdenes de compra pendientes — la primera depuración de este tipo desde 2011. La concejal Riley propuso enmendar la orden eliminando un ítem (2018-078, salón de clases exterior de Clifford Marshall, $2,631.65) porque aún hay una orden de compra abierta, reduciendo el total a $551,718.86. Los fondos originalmente en la reserva de vivienda asequible regresan a dicha categoría; todos los demás regresan a la cuenta no reservada de la CPA para su reasignación.
Votación: 9–0 a favor de la apropiación enmendada.
Resolución: Visión general financiera y de deuda previa al presupuesto del FY27 (2026-048)
El Director de Finanzas Municipales Chris DeLaBarre y el Administrador de Activos de Capital Rick Kosher presentaron un detallado panorama de la deuda, acompañados por la asesora financiera Cinda McInerney (Hilltop Securities), el asesor de bonos Rick Manley (Troutman Pepper) y los suscriptores de Ramirez & Company.
Principales hallazgos presentados por la administración:
Deuda total a largo plazo con bonos: ~$1.297 mil millones; notas de anticipación de bonos (BANs) a corto plazo: $58 millones; total combinado: ~$1.355 mil millones en capital (o ~$1.8 mil millones incluyendo capital más intereses/servicio de deuda).
La deuda se divide en tres segmentos: Obligación General (~56% a largo plazo), Bono de Obligación de Pensiones (POB, ~41%) y Downtown DIF (~3% financiado permanentemente, ~$326 millones en BANs a corto plazo).
El POB ($475 millones emitidos al 2.63% en 2021) convirtió un pasivo de pensión no fondeado y creciente en deuda fija, proyectando ahorros de ~$168–200 millones frente al sistema de pago sobre la marcha hasta 2040. La pensión está ahora fondeada en un ~95–96%, uno de los niveles más altos del estado.
Las notas DIF pueden mantenerse como BANs de solo interés por hasta 10 años bajo legislación especial, y luego financiarse permanentemente por hasta 30 años. El propio distrito DIF expira en 2037, pero los bonos pendientes pueden extenderse más allá de esa fecha.
La antigüedad promedio de los activos de capital de la ciudad es de 9 años con una vida útil de 28 años — comparación favorable con ciudades pares y un factor positivo para S&P.
~$145 millones en deuda de proyectos se amortiza antes de 2034 (incluyendo el bono de energía de Honeywell, Hancock Adams Green, Quincy Center Park y el muro de contención).
La deuda combinada más pensiones como porcentaje del gravamen es ~21%, cercana al promedio de ciudades comparables.
La ciudad cuenta con ~$287 millones en capacidad de gravamen primario no utilizada y ~$25 millones de excedente de gravamen bajo el límite inferior de la Prop 2½.
Preocupaciones significativas planteadas por los concejales:
La concejal McKee cuestionó si el POB fue sometido a suficiente deliberación pública (comparable a las 60 sesiones públicas y la elección especial de Andover) y señaló el riesgo de mercado inherente. También observó que Quincy ha sido rebajada por S&P a AA-minus, y cuestionó a la administración sobre el agotamiento de reservas: la reserva requerida de $30 millones para el POB está en cero, el fondo para días de lluvia es de $9.8 millones (frente a $2.4 millones debido a un cambio en la tasa de descuento) y el efectivo libre retornó apenas ~$2.4 millones sobre un presupuesto de $2.5 mil millones. Señaló que la ciudad utilizó ~$35 millones en ingresos no recurrentes (primas de bonos, ganancias por venta de propiedades y reservas) para contener la tasa impositiva el año pasado.
La presidenta Mahoney interrogó a DeLaBarre sobre la partida presupuestaria de $14 millones en intereses sobre notas (que consideró elevada en relación con los $58 millones en BANs pendientes a las tasas actuales), preguntó si los ingresos del DIF cubren actualmente el servicio de deuda del DIF (respuesta: "creemos que sí, pero estamos actualizando el modelo") y exigió una proyección de flujo de caja plurianual que muestre cómo se financiará permanentemente cada tramo de BANs del DIF. Declaró que esperaba un prospecto a cinco años, no respuestas del tipo "creo que sí".
La asesora financiera McInerney confirmó que fortalecer las reservas es la principal acción que señalizaría una mejora fiscal ante S&P. También señaló que $29 millones en bonos DIF han sido vendidos permanentemente hasta la fecha (de ~$335 millones en BANs DIF pendientes) y confirmó que el modelo de ingresos del DIF está siendo actualizado por el consultor económico RKG y debería estar disponible en las próximas semanas.
No se realizó votación sobre este punto; fue informativo previo a la presentación del presupuesto del FY27 programada para el 4 de mayo.
Revisión de la queja de Open Meeting Law — Reunión del 23 de marzo de 2026 (Item 5)
La presidenta Mahoney resumió una queja presentada por Ann Walker alegando que sus derechos fueron violados cuando Mahoney le pidió que dirigiera sus comentarios "a través de la presidencia" en lugar de a concejales individuales. Mahoney señaló que la queja no plantea una violación de la Open Meeting Law (la reunión estuvo debidamente notificada; no se alegan problemas de deliberación ni de quórum), pero que el concejo toma en serio la transparencia.
La concejal Riley señaló que la queja parece alegar una violación de la Primera Enmienda, no de la OML — una vía legal diferente. Propuso autorizar a la presidenta Mahoney, con la asistencia del City Solicitor Timmons, a responder la queja en nombre del concejo y comunicar la respuesta a la quejosa, al concejo y a la oficina del Fiscal General.
Votación: 9–0.
Resolución: Apoyo al Impact Quincy Youth Action Team (IQYAT) (2026-063)
La concejal DiBona presentó una resolución que reconoce y apoya al IQYAT, un grupo de estudiantes de secundaria de Quincy que trabajan con Baystate Community Services y Quincy Asian Resources para prevenir el consumo de sustancias en jóvenes. El grupo está realizando evaluaciones ambientales de vendedores de alcohol y tabaco en toda la ciudad. La resolución apoya su labor, fomenta la colaboración comunitaria y solicita un foro futuro del concejo para que el IQYAT presente sus hallazgos. Referida a los Comités de Supervisión y Educación.
Votación: 9–0.
Resolución: Hallazgos de la auditoría del FY2024 — Informes sobre programas de fondos federales (2026-064)
La presidenta Mahoney (copatrocinada con las concejalas Riley y Ryan) presentó una resolución que coloca la auditoría de fondos federales del FY2024 en la agenda para su revisión. La auditoría, fechada el 29 de agosto de 2025 pero publicada públicamente solo recientemente, identificó $2,571,675 en costos cuestionados, dos deficiencias significativas (incluido un hallazgo sobre controles de tecnología de la información) y una debilidad material relacionada con el cumplimiento presupuestario — incluyendo un aparente gasto excesivo de $2.5 millones en educación especial en violación de la ley de Massachusetts. La resolución instruye al alcalde, al CFO y a los jefes de departamento pertinentes a proporcionar una respuesta escrita y completa antes del 4 de mayo (fecha de la presentación del presupuesto del FY27) y remite el asunto al Comité de Finanzas y Supervisión.
Mahoney también señaló preocupaciones persistentes, incluyendo el incidente de la junta de retiro ($3.5 millones), documentos de adquisiciones que continúan con la firma de un funcionario que ya no está en el cargo después de su partida, y la ausencia de las salvaguardas prometidas tras el asunto Claseby.
Votación: 9–0, referida al Comité de Finanzas y Supervisión.
Resolución de apoyo a H.1014/S.588 — Climate Change Superfund Act (2026-065)
Las concejalas Hubley, McKee, Ash, Jacobs, Riley y Ryan copatrocinaron una resolución de apoyo a un proyecto de ley estatal que exigiría a las principales empresas de combustibles fósiles responsables de emitir al menos mil millones de toneladas de CO₂ equivalente entre 1995 y 2024 contribuir a un superfondo de Massachusetts durante 25 años. Se estima que Massachusetts recibiría aproximadamente $25 mil millones a nivel estatal; el 40% de los fondos iría a comunidades de justicia ambiental, con prioridad para las comunidades costeras. Quincy ya ha gastado al menos $26 millones en costos de muros de contención y daños por tormentas desde 2011. Otras ocho ciudades de Massachusetts (incluidas Boston y Cambridge) han aprobado resoluciones similares. La resolución instruye el envío de una carta de apoyo a los legisladores estatales.
Las concejalas Ryan, Jacobs y otros enfatizaron la relevancia directa para la vulnerabilidad costera de Quincy y los elevados costos del muro de contención.
Votación: 9–0.
Puntos de consenso y asuntos de trámite
Los siguientes puntos se aprobaron sin debate extendido:
2026-066 Aceptación de donación: Donación de $250 de Key Realty a la ciudad — aprobada 9–0.
Actas: Actas del Comité de Finanzas del 6 y 13 de abril de 2026 aprobadas por unanimidad.
Órdenes de tráfico y servicios públicos del comité:
- 2026-025: Concesión de ubicación para servicios públicos, Mass Electric/Verizon, 137 Sagamore Street — aprobada 9–0 (tras permanecer en comité para diligencias debidas tras preocupaciones de vecinos).
- 2026-059: Estacionamiento para personas con discapacidad, 62 Hobart Street (Ward 3) — aprobada 9–0.
- 2026-060: Est
Resumen generado por IA a partir de una transcripción de voz a texto. No es el registro oficial. Verifique los detalles importantes con los documentos fuente vinculados arriba.
Qué ocurrió en esta reunión
Foro Abierto de Residentes y Comentarios Públicos - President Mahoney
# Residents Open Forum and Public Comment Summary
During the Open Forum and Public Comment session, residents addressed several city matters. Hank Dondier criticized Council Member McKee's comparison between Quincy and Watertown, using demographic data to demonstrate the cities' fundamental differences and questioned whether Council members who received raises had made donations back to the city or schools. Gail Callahan, a 73-year-old Ward 4 resident, congratulated newly elected Council members and expressed senior citizens' satisfaction with the city's tax value. Brandon Lamb, a QCAN board member, supported the Make Polluters Pay/climate Super Fund resolution, arguing that large polluters should be held financially liable for knowingly deceiving the public about climate change, citing historical precedent from 1980s superfund bills. Stuart Row raised concerns about the downtown investment mechanism, noting that while currently funded through the DIF mechanism until 2037, the city would face significant general fund obligations afterward without substantial annual state grants. President Mahoney closed the forum after confirming no other residents wished to speak.
During the Open Forum and Public Comment session, residents addressed several city matters. Hank Dondier criticized Council Member McKee's comparison between Quincy and Watertown, using demographic data to demonstrate the cities' fundamental differences and questioned whether Council members who received raises had made donations back to the city or schools. Gail Callahan, a 73-year-old Ward 4 resident, congratulated newly elected Council members and expressed senior citizens' satisfaction with the city's tax value. Brandon Lamb, a QCAN board member, supported the Make Polluters Pay/climate Super Fund resolution, arguing that large polluters should be held financially liable for knowingly deceiving the public about climate change, citing historical precedent from 1980s superfund bills. Stuart Row raised concerns about the downtown investment mechanism, noting that while currently funded through the DIF mechanism until 2037, the city would face significant general fund obligations afterward without substantial annual state grants. President Mahoney closed the forum after confirming no other residents wished to speak.
Presentación General sobre la Preservación Comunitaria
# Community Preservation Overview Presentation Summary
Councilor Riley requested this comprehensive Community Preservation Act (CPA) overview presentation to educate newly appointed council members on how the program operates before voting on remaining 2026-2027 cycle projects in June, with Stuart Sagenor from the Community Preservation Coalition presenting alongside local committee members. The CPA, enabling legislation passed in 2000, allows communities to adopt the program via local ballot and fund four project types—historic preservation, open space/conservation, outdoor recreation, and community housing—through a voter-approved property tax surcharge into a restricted fund; Quincy adopted the program in 2006 with a 1% surcharge, generating approximately $42 million in combined local and state matching funds over 20 years. The nine-member Community Preservation Committee (CPC)—comprising representatives from five statutory boards, one city council member, and three at-large members—vets projects and recommends CPA spending to the council, with state requirements mandating 10% of annual revenue be spent on each of housing, open space/recreation, and historic preservation, with the remainder discretionary. CPA funds are strictly limited to capital improvements acquiring, creating, preserving, or rehabilitating assets in the four eligible categories, and cannot be used for maintenance, programming, or operational expenses as defined by IRS standards. Staff addressed council concerns regarding procurement oversight for private grant recipients, clarifying that CPA grant agreements incorporate oversight requirements prepared by city legal, CPC, and procurement staff, and noted that the program's 25-year track record demonstrates strong checks and balances with no known significant issues.
Councilor Riley requested this comprehensive Community Preservation Act (CPA) overview presentation to educate newly appointed council members on how the program operates before voting on remaining 2026-2027 cycle projects in June, with Stuart Sagenor from the Community Preservation Coalition presenting alongside local committee members. The CPA, enabling legislation passed in 2000, allows communities to adopt the program via local ballot and fund four project types—historic preservation, open space/conservation, outdoor recreation, and community housing—through a voter-approved property tax surcharge into a restricted fund; Quincy adopted the program in 2006 with a 1% surcharge, generating approximately $42 million in combined local and state matching funds over 20 years. The nine-member Community Preservation Committee (CPC)—comprising representatives from five statutory boards, one city council member, and three at-large members—vets projects and recommends CPA spending to the council, with state requirements mandating 10% of annual revenue be spent on each of housing, open space/recreation, and historic preservation, with the remainder discretionary. CPA funds are strictly limited to capital improvements acquiring, creating, preserving, or rehabilitating assets in the four eligible categories, and cannot be used for maintenance, programming, or operational expenses as defined by IRS standards. Staff addressed council concerns regarding procurement oversight for private grant recipients, clarifying that CPA grant agreements incorporate oversight requirements prepared by city legal, CPC, and procurement staff, and noted that the program's 25-year track record demonstrates strong checks and balances with no known significant issues.
2026-062 – Apropiación – $554,350.51 Cierre de Proyectos de Community Preservation - Mayor Koch
The council unanimously approved Item 2026-062, an appropriation of $551,718.60 for Community Preservation Act project closeout. Councilor Riley presented a list of CPA projects compiled by auditor Susan O'Connor and reviewed by the committee in April, proposing to close out projects five or more years old with no outstanding purchase orders. Riley amended the motion to exclude project 2018-078 due to an outstanding purchase order, reducing the total from $554,350.51 to $551,718.60. Councilor DiBona inquired about retained funds in reserved accounts, which Riley deferred to the CPC committee's discretion, noting this was the first closeout since 2011 and the program's inception in 2007. The motion passed 9-0.
2026-048 – Resolución – Solicitud de una Revisión Financiera y de Deuda Integral Previa a las Deliberaciones del Presupuesto FY27 - Councillor Mahoney, Councillor Yuan, Councillor Jacobs, Councillor Ryan, Councillor McKee, Councillor Riley
# Summary of 2026-048 Discussion
President Mahoney introduced resolve 2026-048 requesting a comprehensive financial and debt overview prior to FY27 budget deliberations, citing concerns about the city's $1.6-1.8 billion in combined debt, depleted reserves, and lack of multi-year financial forecasting. Rick Kosher from municipal finance, assisted by bond counsel Rick Manley and financial advisor Cinder McNeey, presented detailed breakdowns of the city's debt portfolio including $866 million in bond principal, $400 million in other permanent debt, and $58 million in short-term notes, while also clarifying distinctions between principal amounts and debt service figures that had caused confusion. Councilors raised significant concerns: Councilor McKee questioned the pension obligation bond's risks compared to other Massachusetts cities; Councilor Leon asked whether DIF revenues would sufficiently cover debt by 2037; and Councilor Mahoney emphasized the need for quarterly five-year financial models given recent S&P downgrades, depleted reserves at only 2.5% of budget (versus recommended 10%), and reliance on one-time revenue sources ($35 million annually). The Council voted on amendment subsections individually, with Councilor Rash and Councilor Hubley raising process concerns about subsection D (restricting new appropriations without required reports) and requesting advance notice of substantive amendments. Residents including Bob Haley and Jocelyn Sedney raised public concerns about debt management, fiscal transparency, and audit inconsistencies, leading to a 9-0 council vote passing the motion.
President Mahoney introduced resolve 2026-048 requesting a comprehensive financial and debt overview prior to FY27 budget deliberations, citing concerns about the city's $1.6-1.8 billion in combined debt, depleted reserves, and lack of multi-year financial forecasting. Rick Kosher from municipal finance, assisted by bond counsel Rick Manley and financial advisor Cinder McNeey, presented detailed breakdowns of the city's debt portfolio including $866 million in bond principal, $400 million in other permanent debt, and $58 million in short-term notes, while also clarifying distinctions between principal amounts and debt service figures that had caused confusion. Councilors raised significant concerns: Councilor McKee questioned the pension obligation bond's risks compared to other Massachusetts cities; Councilor Leon asked whether DIF revenues would sufficiently cover debt by 2037; and Councilor Mahoney emphasized the need for quarterly five-year financial models given recent S&P downgrades, depleted reserves at only 2.5% of budget (versus recommended 10%), and reliance on one-time revenue sources ($35 million annually). The Council voted on amendment subsections individually, with Councilor Rash and Councilor Hubley raising process concerns about subsection D (restricting new appropriations without required reports) and requesting advance notice of substantive amendments. Residents including Bob Haley and Jocelyn Sedney raised public concerns about debt management, fiscal transparency, and audit inconsistencies, leading to a 9-0 council vote passing the motion.
Revisión de la Queja sobre la Ley de Reuniones Abiertas en relación con la Reunión del 23 de marzo de 2026 - President Mahoney
# Summary: Review of Open Meeting Law Complaint regarding March 23, 2026 Meeting
Ann Walker, a Marshfield resident and firefighter's wife, filed an open meeting law complaint alleging that President Mahoney violated her First Amendment rights during the March 23rd meeting by requiring her to direct public comments through the chair and preventing her from addressing Councilor Wuan directly. Walker cited Massachusetts law and the Baron v. Coenda case to argue that the public has a constitutional right to speak during public comment, even when critical or directed at specific councilors, and that chair-imposed civility requirements cannot silence legitimate criticism. The council determined the complaint does not constitute an open meeting law violation, as all materials were properly posted and transparency procedures were followed, with Councilor Riley noting that the complaint appears to allege a First Amendment violation rather than an open meeting law violation. By unanimous 6-0 vote, the council authorized President Mahoney, with solicitor Timmons's assistance if needed, to respond to the complaint on behalf of the council and communicate the response to Walker, the council, and the attorney general's office.
Ann Walker, a Marshfield resident and firefighter's wife, filed an open meeting law complaint alleging that President Mahoney violated her First Amendment rights during the March 23rd meeting by requiring her to direct public comments through the chair and preventing her from addressing Councilor Wuan directly. Walker cited Massachusetts law and the Baron v. Coenda case to argue that the public has a constitutional right to speak during public comment, even when critical or directed at specific councilors, and that chair-imposed civility requirements cannot silence legitimate criticism. The council determined the complaint does not constitute an open meeting law violation, as all materials were properly posted and transparency procedures were followed, with Councilor Riley noting that the complaint appears to allege a First Amendment violation rather than an open meeting law violation. By unanimous 6-0 vote, the council authorized President Mahoney, with solicitor Timmons's assistance if needed, to respond to the complaint on behalf of the council and communicate the response to Walker, the council, and the attorney general's office.
Puntos de agenda (8)
Public Hearing
1Public HearingForo Abierto de Residentes y Comentarios Públicos - President Mahoney
Residents will have an open opportunity to speak during public comment period about any topics of concern to them.
Qué ocurrió
# Residents Open Forum and Public Comment SummaryDuring the Open Forum and Public Comment session, residents addressed several city matters. Hank Dondier criticized Council Member McKee's comparison between Quincy and Watertown, using demographic data to demonstrate the cities' fundamental differences and questioned whether Council members who received raises had made donations back to the city or schools. Gail Callahan, a 73-year-old Ward 4 resident, congratulated newly elected Council members and expressed senior citizens' satisfaction with the city's tax value. Brandon Lamb, a QCAN board member, supported the Make Polluters Pay/climate Super Fund resolution, arguing that large polluters should be held financially liable for knowingly deceiving the public about climate change, citing historical precedent from 1980s superfund bills. Stuart Row raised concerns about the downtown investment mechanism, noting that while currently funded through the DIF mechanism until 2037, the city would face significant general fund obligations afterward without substantial annual state grants. President Mahoney closed the forum after confirming no other residents wished to speak.
2Public HearingPresentación General sobre la Preservación Comunitaria
The city will present an overview of the Community Preservation program, which funds local cultural, historic, and recreational projects.
Qué ocurrió
# Community Preservation Overview Presentation SummaryCouncilor Riley requested this comprehensive Community Preservation Act (CPA) overview presentation to educate newly appointed council members on how the program operates before voting on remaining 2026-2027 cycle projects in June, with Stuart Sagenor from the Community Preservation Coalition presenting alongside local committee members. The CPA, enabling legislation passed in 2000, allows communities to adopt the program via local ballot and fund four project types—historic preservation, open space/conservation, outdoor recreation, and community housing—through a voter-approved property tax surcharge into a restricted fund; Quincy adopted the program in 2006 with a 1% surcharge, generating approximately $42 million in combined local and state matching funds over 20 years. The nine-member Community Preservation Committee (CPC)—comprising representatives from five statutory boards, one city council member, and three at-large members—vets projects and recommends CPA spending to the council, with state requirements mandating 10% of annual revenue be spent on each of housing, open space/recreation, and historic preservation, with the remainder discretionary. CPA funds are strictly limited to capital improvements acquiring, creating, preserving, or rehabilitating assets in the four eligible categories, and cannot be used for maintenance, programming, or operational expenses as defined by IRS standards. Staff addressed council concerns regarding procurement oversight for private grant recipients, clarifying that CPA grant agreements incorporate oversight requirements prepared by city legal, CPC, and procurement staff, and noted that the program's 25-year track record demonstrates strong checks and balances with no known significant issues.
3Public Hearing2026-062 – Apropiación – $554,350.51 Cierre de Proyectos de Community Preservation - Mayor Koch
The city is requesting approval to spend $554,350.51 to close out and complete various Community Preservation projects.
Qué ocurrió
The council unanimously approved Item 2026-062, an appropriation of $551,718.60 for Community Preservation Act project closeout. Councilor Riley presented a list of CPA projects compiled by auditor Susan O'Connor and reviewed by the committee in April, proposing to close out projects five or more years old with no outstanding purchase orders. Riley amended the motion to exclude project 2018-078 due to an outstanding purchase order, reducing the total from $554,350.51 to $551,718.60. Councilor DiBona inquired about retained funds in reserved accounts, which Riley deferred to the CPC committee's discretion, noting this was the first closeout since 2011 and the program's inception in 2007. The motion passed 9-0.4Public Hearing2026-048 – Resolución – Solicitud de una Revisión Financiera y de Deuda Integral Previa a las Deliberaciones del Presupuesto FY27 - Councillor Mahoney, Councillor Yuan, Councillor Jacobs, Councillor Ryan, Councillor McKee, Councillor Riley
Multiple councillors are asking for a detailed review of the city's finances and debt before the city council begins discussing the fiscal year 2027 budget.
Qué ocurrió
# Summary of 2026-048 DiscussionPresident Mahoney introduced resolve 2026-048 requesting a comprehensive financial and debt overview prior to FY27 budget deliberations, citing concerns about the city's $1.6-1.8 billion in combined debt, depleted reserves, and lack of multi-year financial forecasting. Rick Kosher from municipal finance, assisted by bond counsel Rick Manley and financial advisor Cinder McNeey, presented detailed breakdowns of the city's debt portfolio including $866 million in bond principal, $400 million in other permanent debt, and $58 million in short-term notes, while also clarifying distinctions between principal amounts and debt service figures that had caused confusion. Councilors raised significant concerns: Councilor McKee questioned the pension obligation bond's risks compared to other Massachusetts cities; Councilor Leon asked whether DIF revenues would sufficiently cover debt by 2037; and Councilor Mahoney emphasized the need for quarterly five-year financial models given recent S&P downgrades, depleted reserves at only 2.5% of budget (versus recommended 10%), and reliance on one-time revenue sources ($35 million annually). The Council voted on amendment subsections individually, with Councilor Rash and Councilor Hubley raising process concerns about subsection D (restricting new appropriations without required reports) and requesting advance notice of substantive amendments. Residents including Bob Haley and Jocelyn Sedney raised public concerns about debt management, fiscal transparency, and audit inconsistencies, leading to a 9-0 council vote passing the motion.
5Public HearingRevisión de la Queja sobre la Ley de Reuniones Abiertas en relación con la Reunión del 23 de marzo de 2026 - President Mahoney
The city council will review a complaint that an Open Meeting Law violation occurred during the March 23, 2026 city council meeting.
Qué ocurrió
# Summary: Review of Open Meeting Law Complaint regarding March 23, 2026 MeetingAnn Walker, a Marshfield resident and firefighter's wife, filed an open meeting law complaint alleging that President Mahoney violated her First Amendment rights during the March 23rd meeting by requiring her to direct public comments through the chair and preventing her from addressing Councilor Wuan directly. Walker cited Massachusetts law and the Baron v. Coenda case to argue that the public has a constitutional right to speak during public comment, even when critical or directed at specific councilors, and that chair-imposed civility requirements cannot silence legitimate criticism. The council determined the complaint does not constitute an open meeting law violation, as all materials were properly posted and transparency procedures were followed, with Councilor Riley noting that the complaint appears to allege a First Amendment violation rather than an open meeting law violation. By unanimous 6-0 vote, the council authorized President Mahoney, with solicitor Timmons's assistance if needed, to respond to the complaint on behalf of the council and communicate the response to Walker, the council, and the attorney general's office.
6Public Hearing2026-063 – Resolución – Apoyo al Impact Quincy Youth Action Team (IQYAT) - Councillor DiBona
The city is considering a resolution to support and fund the Impact Quincy Youth Action Team (IQYAT), a local youth-focused organization.
Qué ocurrió
Councillor DiBona presented a resolve to recognize and support the Impact Quincy Youth Action Team (IQYAT), a group of high school students developing leadership and advocacy skills in collaboration with Baystate Community Services and Quincy Asian Resources. The initiative focuses on reducing and preventing youth substance use by conducting environmental scans of alcohol and tobacco retailers to understand how local retail environments influence youth behaviors and social norms. The resolve requests that the City Council provide a forum for IQYAT to present their findings to residents and encourages continued collaboration with youth leaders and community partners. The motion to approve and refer to the dual oversight and education committees passed unanimously with all nine members voting yes.7Public Hearing2026-064 – Resolución – Hallazgos de la Auditoría FY2024 – Informes sobre Programas de Fondos Federales - Councillor Mahoney, Councillor Riley, Councillor Ryan
The city council will review findings from the 2024 audit, including a report on federal grant programs and how federal funding was used.
Qué ocurrió
President Mahoney presented a resolve regarding FY2024 audit findings on federal award programs, initiated after a resident inquiry. The resolve requests that the Finance and Oversight Committee review the audit findings, which identified two significant deficiencies and one material weakness, including issues related to information technology controls and budgetary compliance. President Mahoney raised concerns about the timing delay, noting the 2024 report was only recently posted to the website and expressed frustration that informed decisions cannot be made using two-year-old data while still awaiting the 2025 audit. The resolve requires the Mayor, CFO, and relevant department heads to provide a comprehensive written response addressing financial exposure of $2.5 million in questioned costs, federal/state review status, correction action plans, and anticipated impacts to the FY2027 budget. The motion to approve and refer to the Finance and Oversight Committee passed.8Public Hearing2026-065 – Resolución en Apoyo de H.1014/S.588 - An Act Establishing a Climate Change Superfund - Councillor Hubley, Councillor McKee, Councillor Ash, Councillor Jacobs, Councillor Riley
Multiple councillors are proposing a resolution in support of state legislation (H.1014/S.588) that would establish a Climate Change Superfund.
Qué ocurrió
# Summary of 2026-065 – Resolution Supporting H.1014/S.588Public comment and council discussion supported Resolution 2026-065, which backs H.1014/S.588, state legislation establishing a climate change superfund modeled on the 1980s federal Superfund law. Speakers Gina Favvada, Heather Dhoni, and Claire Miller advocated for holding oil and gas companies accountable for knowingly contributing to climate change, emphasizing that Quincy, as a vulnerable coastal city, would benefit from the estimated $25 billion in funding Massachusetts would receive over 25 years, with 40% directed to environmental justice communities and funds designated for seawalls, stormwater infrastructure, and wetland restoration. Favvada also urged the council to develop Quincy's own comprehensive climate mitigation plans, including adopting a stretch code and expanding waste reduction efforts, with the Quincy Climate Action Network planning to engage council members further. Councillors McKee and Hubley co-sponsored the resolution, and Councillor Ryan, who experienced severe flooding, strongly supported the bill as overdue, while Councillor Jacobs highlighted House Neck's coastal vulnerabilities and the potential for seawall funding. The motion to approve and send a letter passed with broad council support.
Votos adicionales registrados en actas
Approve Amendment A (Compliance Tracking) to Council Order 2026-007
aye 8 · nay 1
Anne Mahoneyaye
David Jacobsaye
Deborah Rileyaye
Maggie McKeeaye
Noel DiBonanay
Richard Ashaye
Virginia Ryanaye
Walter Hubleyaye
Ziqiang Yuanaye
Approve Amendment B (Automatic Agenda Placement) to Council Order 2026-007
aye 6 · nay 3
Anne Mahoneyaye
David Jacobsaye
Deborah Rileyaye
Maggie McKeeaye
Noel DiBonanay
Richard Ashnay
Virginia Ryanaye
Walter Hubleynay
Ziqiang Yuanaye
Approve Amendment C (Written Explanation) to Council Order 2026-007
aye 8 · nay 1
Anne Mahoneyaye
David Jacobsaye
Deborah Rileyaye
Maggie McKeeaye
Noel DiBonanay
Richard Ashaye
Virginia Ryanaye
Walter Hubleyaye
Ziqiang Yuanaye
Approve Amendment D (Condition on Council Action) to Council Order 2026-007
aye 5 · nay 4
Anne Mahoneyaye
David Jacobsaye
Deborah Rileynay
Maggie McKeeaye
Noel DiBonanay
Richard Ashnay
Virginia Ryanaye
Walter Hubleynay
Ziqiang Yuanaye
Approve Finance Committee adjournment
aye 1
voice voteaye
Approve Council Order 2026-062 (CPA project close out appropriation) as amended
aye 9
Anne Mahoneyaye
David Jacobsaye
Deborah Rileyaye
Maggie McKeeaye
Noel DiBonaaye
Richard Ashaye
Virginia Ryanaye
Walter Hubleyaye
Ziqiang Yuanaye
Authorize response to open meeting law complaint (March 23, 2026)
aye 9
Anne Mahoneyaye
David Jacobsaye
Deborah Rileyaye
Maggie McKeeaye
Noel DiBonaaye
Richard Ashaye
Virginia Ryanaye
Walter Hubleyaye
Ziqiang Yuanaye
Approve and refer Council Order 2026-066 (Impact Quincy Youth Action Team resolve) to committee
aye 9
Anne Mahoneyaye
David Jacobsaye
Deborah Rileyaye
Maggie McKeeaye
Noel DiBonaaye
Richard Ashaye
Virginia Ryanaye
Walter Hubleyaye
Ziqiang Yuanaye
Approve and refer Council Order 2026-064 (FY2024 audit findings) to finance and oversight committee
aye 9
Anne Mahoneyaye
David Jacobsaye
Deborah Rileyaye
Maggie McKeeaye
Noel DiBonaaye
Richard Ashaye
Virginia Ryanaye
Walter Hubleyaye
Ziqiang Yuanaye
Approve Council Order 2026-065 (Climate Change Super Fund resolution)
aye 9
Anne Mahoneyaye
David Jacobsaye
Deborah Rileyaye
Maggie McKeeaye
Noel DiBonaaye
Richard Ashaye
Virginia Ryanaye
Walter Hubleyaye
Ziqiang Yuanaye
Approve Council Order 2026-066 gift acceptance ($250 from Key Realty)
aye 9
Anne Mahoneyaye
David Jacobsaye
Deborah Rileyaye
Maggie McKeeaye
Noel DiBonaaye
Richard Ashaye
Virginia Ryanaye
Walter Hubleyaye
Ziqiang Yuanaye
Approve minutes of April 6, 2026 and April 13, 2026 finance committee meetings
aye 1
voice voteaye
Approve Council Order 2026-025 (utility grant of location, Mass Electric/Verizon, 137 Sagamore Street)
aye 9
Anne Mahoneyaye
David Jacobsaye
Deborah Rileyaye
Maggie McKeeaye
Noel DiBonaaye
Richard Ashaye
Virginia Ryanaye
Walter Hubleyaye
Ziqiang Yuanaye
Approve Council Order 2026-059 (add handicap parking at 62 Hobart Street, Ward 3)
aye 9
Anne Mahoneyaye
David Jacobsaye
Deborah Rileyaye
Maggie McKeeaye
Noel DiBonaaye
Richard Ashaye
Virginia Ryanaye
Walter Hubleyaye
Ziqiang Yuanaye
Approve Council Order 2026-060 (add handicap parking at 258 Newberry Avenue, Ward 6)
aye 1
voice voteaye
Approve Council Order 2026-061 (utility grant of location, National Grid Gas, 1550 Hancock Street/Nukem Street/78 McGrath Highway)
aye 9
Anne Mahoneyaye
David Jacobsaye
Deborah Rileyaye
Maggie McKeeaye
Noel DiBonaaye
Richard Ashaye
Virginia Ryanaye
Walter Hubleyaye
Ziqiang Yuanaye
Transcripción literal disponible
843 segmentos de transcripción indexados
I would like to call the Monday, April 27th, 6:30 p.m. public hearing to order. Uh, this public hearing is for council order 2026-061 utility grant of location, National Grid Gas, uh, 1550 Hancock Street, Nukem Street,78 McGrath Highway.
Um, anyone wishing to speak in favor or opposition, please come to the podium, state your name and address. If you do not wish to speak, but would like your support or opposition recorded, please sign in on the sheet uh on the sheet on the table at the back of the chamber.
Anyone here on um 2026-061 utility grant of location, National Grid, 1550 Hancock Street. Are are you here on that? Yes. Okay. I'm sorry. Excuse me. Um, anybody wishing to speak in favor or opposition?
Okay. Um, seeing no further public comment, I will close this hearing at 6:32 and we will reconvene uh at 6:35 for the finance committee. Good evening. I'd like to call to order the April 27th, 2026 uh Quinsey City Council finance committee meeting.
And I will begin by reading the open meeting law. Pursuant to the open meeting law, any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium.
Attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made, whether perceived or unpersceived, by those present, and are deemed acknowledged and permissible. Madame clerk, please call the role.
Councelor Ash, present. Councelor Deona, present. Council Hubley. Council Jacobs present. Council Mahoney present. Council McKe present. Council Ryan. Council Yuen Chairman Riley present. I have a Thank you.
First item on the agenda is C council order 2026-007 ordinance rules establishing fiscal safeguards, reserve protections and financial transparency. Um now we brought this forward for initial discussion on April 13th with the director of m municipal finance Mr.
Dela Barbara present to answer our questions. We agreed that evening to adjourn so that we could reflect on what was being presented and the comments of our fellow counselors taken in. So we are here tonight to bring forward any additional comments, questions or insights we may have on this matter.
And um if any of the counselors would like to speak or put forth a motion to amend or approve this order, I will entertain that as well. Anyone? Any further comment on this matter? Council unan. So I would like to add a friendly amendment for the enforcement of reporting requirements.
Which section? Oh, I just add a section of enforcement of reporting requirements. You want to add a section? Okay. You need a minute. Oh, she's passing. I have I will I will have one. Let's go. Walt didn't get one.
I don't have any more. Can we Can we share? I can share. I can run up. Just give us one minute. Counselor. You can talk about it. Okay. So, council is it this first page here that you're speaking to? Yes.
For Okay. Okay. So, just uh add one section is called the enforcement of reporting requirements. So, A is compliance tracking. The city clerk shall maintain a public log of all reports required in this ordinance including submission dates and any missed deadlines.
B. Automatic agenda placement. Failure to submit any required report by the deadline shall automatically place a notice of non-compliance on the next city council agenda. C written explanation within 14 days of a missed deadline.
The mayor or designate shall submit a written explanation to the city council which shall be publicly posted. D condition on council action. The city council shall not act on any new appropriations, transfers or borrowing request unless the most recent required report has been submitted.
All the lung compliance has been formally acknowledged on the record. I would like to add this section last amendment to enforce the reporting requirement for transparency. Okay. So, council Yen is offering this um um amendment.
I guess the only question would be would this trigger um readvertising if we were to adopt a change? Bluetooth connect. So, it may require that it that the order pass it to me that it be reordered. So, I I'll take further discussion from anyone else who may want to offer it, but I'm I'm going to suggest that maybe this might be incorporated into the policy document um which wouldn't require because the policy document I actually printed it out is much a much thicker document just just as a suggestion, but I'll open it up to my fellow counselors.
Councelor Deanna. Um thank you, Madam Chair. Just um through you to um Council Yon. Um so just just to clarify, you're speaking on her amendment. I'm speaking on the amendment. Yeah. She's presenting in front of us.
Um where did you get these this language? Did you get it from another town or city or did you make it up on your own? Reporting reporting system if it can't be enforced then it's meaningless. So I add this language is one to the public also have oversight of the administration's compliance.
Yes. But I'm just asking the question personally to you. Did you get this from another town or city or did you make these? I make it this. You make this up yourself? Okay. So, these are from your Yeah.
Do you have any question about the language? I just wanted to see where you got it from. That's all. Okay. I lost Jen. Did you want to speak? I don't know how to work this thing. Through you, Madam Chairwoman.
Uh, thank you very much. I I I think your uh sense is on the right track. Um I'm not sure technically about readvertising, but what I would say is that um the administration is just in receipt of this amendment now.
Um we would obviously like to take a look at, you know, legal issues, have the solicitor's office take a look at it. Um gets to some of the other points in the ordinance as well. Um, so I don't not comfortable offering any opinion on this at this point in time based upon the fact that we're this seems substantive and certainly the point is appreciated.
Um, but we're going to need to take a look at this to see where it would fall and how it would comply with with state and local statute. Thank you. Any other comments? Yeah. Oh, councelor Rash. Thank you.
Sorry. Through you, Madam Chair. Um I would just if we were going to consider this, I would suggest um considering it each subsection A, B, C, and D separately um instead of blanketly voting on um all four sections.
Um I know I I think I would take issue with D um which reads the city council should not shall not act on any new appropriations, transfers, or borrowing requests unless the most recent required report has been submitted.
Um, and I'm happy to talk about that if we are considering it all as one or if we're going to to break it out. But, um, I would just suggest if if it's going to be considered tonight to to break it out into subsections.
Thank you. Thank you, Councel Huby. Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Through you to uh, councelor UN. Um, so I think it's a I don't know point of process. I don't know if that's actually a thing, but I made it up if it isn't.
um if we're going to be adding like an entire section to something that we're reviewing. Um I think this is the second time the previous one was an ordinance around uh oils and greases in the system and so forth.
Um it would be helpful to much like we ask the uh department heads and the administration to get a few days advanced notice of information especially substantive amount of information like three paragraphs or something like that.
It would go a long way if we could get these maybe just a day or two ahead of time instead of you know going and making photo copies out back and handing them out. I really don't have any time to thoroughly consider this and this is the second time that's happened.
So respectfully, if we could try to push things out a little earlier so everyone would have a chance to review them and give thoughtful comments. We're putting a lot of emphasis on transparency and letting the public know, but I think the council would also like to know what we're going to be reviewing on a given meeting night.
So respectfully, if we could do that in the future, appreciate it. Thank you for that. Um, so Council Yen, I don't know if you actually um put this in the form of a motion, but do you want to take a vote on this amendment?
Yeah, I accept councelor Ash's suggestion. We can vote on an ABCD each paragraph and I think it's very self-evident. If you want to vote no, you can vote no. So, we have gotten clarification from solicitor Timmons that this would require a renoticing.
Um, so we wouldn't if we were to accept this amendment, we would not be able to pass this ordinance tonight. So, I'll I'll ask you again if you want to withdraw this amendment and consider it an amendment in the future or um so she's saying this if you want to withdraw it as an amendment advertis I I'd like to reiterate that I think this might be incorporated into a policy document once all of the you know once everyone's had a chance to review it and they've been able to get weigh in from the legal team.
Um, you know, this could be something that could be incorporated into the policy document. I understand your point about enforcement, but it would it would prevent us from being able to pass this tonight if if we have the votes to do so, but we would not be able to take a vote on it if we if we approve this amendment tonight.
We would have to renotice it. I I would like to have a chance to discuss this amendment. So, if we couldn't vote to tonight, well, I guess first we would have to vote on your friendly amendment and get enough uh I guess a majority vote to to then adopt your friendly amendment and then we could vote on the whole thing, but we would have to renotice it or would we even be able to vote on it tonight?
I don't even think we could we wouldn't be able to. Okay. So, do you want me to take a roll call on your amendment or do you want does anyone else have anything else they want to add to the amendment or or commentary that they want to weigh in on?
Councelor McGee. Hi. Um, so I actually think it might be a good idea to to um vote on these things and then renotice it if we have to and then just get it done all at once rather than passing it first and then going back to it at some later point.
That's my feeling. Is that agreeable to you? So we I I think everyone is in agreement that we'd vote on each of these separately. Okay. So I make a motion to vote on each section on this amendment. Okay.
Um make a comment. Yeah. For Okay. So which one amendment? Uh amendment A compliance tracking. So, a motion is on the table to approve amendment A, compliance tracking. Um, take a roll call, please. Council Ash, yes.
Council Deona, no. Council Hubley, yes. Council Jacobs, yes. Council Mahoney, yes. Council McKe, yes. Council Ryan, yes. Council Yuan, yes. Chair Riley, yes. Passes. And I make a motion to um to vote on section B, automatic agenda placement.
Motion on the table to approve section B, automatic agenda placement. Madam clerk, take the role, please. Council Ash, no. Council Deon, no. Council Hubley, no. Council Jacobs, yes. Council Mahoney, yes.
Council McKe, yes. Council Ryan, yes. Council Yuan, yes. Yes. Council Riley. Yes. And I make a motion of section C, the written explanation to vote on it. Motion on the table to um accept the item C, written explanation.
To take the role, please. Council Ash, yes. Council Dona, no. Council Hubley, yes. Council Jacobs, yes. Council Non, yes. Council McKe, yes. Council Ryan, yes. Council U. Yes. Chairman R. Chairman Riley.
Yes. And I make a motion to vote on section D condition on council action. Um motion on the table. Can we take the role, please? Council Ash, no. Council Deona, no. Council Hley, no. Council Jacobs, yes.
Council Mahoney, yes. Council McKe, yes. Council Ryan, yes. Council Yuan, yes. Council Riley, I'm going to vote no on that. Passes. So, all the amendments passed. Yep. Okay. So, we're now going to be required to renotice this.
Yep. And we could take it up um to the 18th. Okay. Cuz we're back to back. Mhm. Okay. Is there any further discussion on this that we'd like to have? We certainly can continue to discuss it, but um we will not be able to take a vote on it here tonight.
Nothing. Okay. I motion to adjourn the uh finance committee meeting. All in favor? Thank you. Good evening. We're going to call the um city council meeting for Monday, April 27th um to order at 7 p.m.
And we're going to start with um call orders. We're going to start with um Can you call the call the order, please? Councelor Ash. Council Dana, present. Councelor Hubley, present. Councelor Jacobs, present.
Council McKe, present. Councelor Riley, present. Council Ryan present. Council UN. President Mahoney present. Nine members have all stand for a moment of silence. And if we could turn to pledge allegiance to the flag.
I allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. If we could read the madam clerk, if you could read the open meeting law, please.
Pursuant to the open meeting law, any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium. Attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made whether perceived or unpersceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible.
Thank you very much. We're going to move on to the res open forum forum forum and public comment. And just before we start, I just wanted to read just to reiterate the the rules. Um, open forum and public comment is limited to matters with C city council purview.
Residents of Quinsey shall be recognized first for public comment. Speakers shall state their name and address for the record and may identify any group they represent. Each speaker is limited to three minutes.
An individual may not exchange their time or yield to others. Speakers may express opinions including criticism, policies, or operations. Speakers are not allowed to make threats, incite unlawful conduct, or disrupt the meeting.
The council president enforces the time limit and the order. Enforcement is behavior-based and contentneutral. So, with that being said, we're going to start the open forum and we have Hank Dondier first.
Ready? Hanko, 65 minute a Quincsey, Mass 02169. Uh, quick question. Anybody ever heard of Henny Penny? I don't see anybody here. How about Chicken Little? How about getting bopped on a heaven with an acorn running around saying the sky is falling?
Sky is falling. Is it really? Uh I'm referencing this as far as the upcoming budget and some of the information that was presented by council McGee uh at the last meeting uh regarding Watertown in referencing Watertown in relation to Quinzy.
Uh I did a not a real deep dive but a quick dive and uh first of all water town has an area total area 3.9 square miles. Quinsey has a total area 28. All right area population 3523 in Watertown Quinsey 101,000 plus uh median age water 38.8 8 Quinsey 38.1 poverty rate in Watertown 6.1 poverty rate in Quinsey 9.7 medium value of property is uh 733 737,000 Watertown 641,000 in Quinsey density per square mile 8840 in Watertown 6240 in Quinsey population.
Watertown is 71% white, 11% Asian. Quinsey is 54% white, 31% Asian. All right. What's all this mean? It means something very simple. This is not Water Town. Equating Watertown to Quinzy is is a joke. And as far as uh certain numbers are concerned, it ain't it ain't flushing.
Sorry, folks. Better open your eyes. Uh, another matter regarding raises. Has anyone made a donation yet? Donations? Yes. No. Maybe. Uh, I have a suggestion. If you don't donate it back to the city, they're very valuable assets in Quinsey that could use it.
Starting with the uh, you know, high school, high school teams, various uh, folks like that. Put it to use. Put it to good use. Either that or send it back. When a budget comes due and you have your opportunity to present it, are you going to stand up in mass and say, "Okay, we did this.
We gave it back." Uh or are you going to do it seritiously one at a time? I'd like to see what you know what people are doing and who's doing what. Simple as that. Uh bottom line, Quincsey uh Quinsey has two high schools, five middle schools, 12 elementary schools.
Watertown, one high school, one middle school, four elementary schools. And of those elementary schools in both of them, they're early childhood uh schools. So therefore, Quinsey has one hell of an asset going on.
And if there's any issues about tax rates, it ain't the rate, folks. It ain't the rate. It's the assessment. That's why that's why your numbers are going up. Time. Next person on the agenda is Gail Callahan.
Hello everyone. It's nice to see you here tonight. First and foremost, congratulations for winning your elections. I know you all worked hard. Some people voted for you, some people didn't, but I know you're all going to work hard for the city of Quinsey.
That's what you're here for. Um, I am Gail Callahan. I live at 437 Quarry Street, 02169. I am a 73-year-old senior citizen from Ward 4. I have lived in Ward 4 for all 73 of those years. I've lived in three different parts of West Quinsey, but West Quinzy all the same.
I'm here to tell you as a senior citizen doing a small survey with my immediate friends who have lived here forever as well, we're not unhappy. We feel as if the city is giving us an awful lot for our money.
So when I have to write my check for my property taxes, I feel like I know where it's going to. We have great schools. We have police. We have the fire. We have a great recreation department. We have the park department.
We have things like trash, which in other communities which much higher taxes than here, people have to pay for their trash. So they're paying for their taxes and they're paying for their trash. I only want to pay one bill.
I don't want to do that. If you need to have Today is a very happy day in my house because they are now going to pick up yard waste from now until November and my husband loves that. In many communities that is not offered.
God forbid you have a rat problem in your community in your little area. Quincy actually has two places that will send they'll send you and they'll help you with that. In other communities, you can call the health department and they say, "Figure it out.
Do it on your own." Part of my issue here, folks, is that I have lived here this long. Lived here as a little girl, loving Quinsey Center, Remix, all that kind of stuff. Lived through the sidewalk fairs in the summer.
Walked from West Quinsey to Quinsey Center so I could take the bus to go to Paragon Park and all of those types of things. worked here as a high school person at Learners. Graduated from college and still kept working at Learners because I liked it.
It was a good place. And then what happened? Got married, had kids, we had Child World. And then everything went away. We closed schools. We did not allow world language at the middle school, nor did we have library at the middle school, nor did we have music and art.
If you have only been here for 10, 20, 30 years, you might not know those things, but I do. I spend 16 years shephering my kids through the school system as president of the PTO's for all of them, Bernazani, Central Middle School, Quinsey High School, not to mention the school councils that I served on from their inception and even a couple of years after I had finished up.
Sorry. Anyways, that's my thoughts. Thank you. Next up, we have Bob Haley. Good evening. My name is Bob Haley. I live at 75 Elwood Park. Uh I have 38 years of uh municipal finance and local communities.
I'm here to talk about the city's debt service. The city's debt service is out of control. The mayor presented a financial overview to the city council in October of 2025. The combined short and long-term debt was $1.6 billion.
The city's debt service in fiscal year 27 will be $1.8 billion. Short-term borrowing has increased by $200 million from fiscal year 26 to fiscal year 27. The amount of short-term debt now is $58 million.
City has appropriately uh approximately 77 million of general fund short-term debt this year. Um interest on that debt at 5% would be $3.9 million. Yet the city asked for $14 million appropriation. I'd like to know what the city's going to do with the additional $10 million.
The district improvement uh financing zone owes $19.6 million in short and long-term debt in fiscal year 270. Revenue in fiscal year 24 was $8 million. So my question is, is the city really going to have $19.6 million to pay for diff expenses in fiscal year 27?
Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we have Annne Walker. I'm Ann Walker. I actually live in Marshfield as most of you know, and my husband is a Quinsey firefighter. I was here on March 23rd, so I do have a prepared statement this time that I will try to get through.
Um, I want to address something that goes beyond me personally and gets to the core of how public comment is being handled here in Quinsey. Under Massachusetts law and as clearly established in Baron versus Coenda, members of the public have a constitutional right to speak during public comment, even if the speech is critical, direct, or uncomfortable.
The courts have made it clear that while the chair can manage the meeting, they cannot impose restrictions that censor the content of someone's speech. That means you can set the time limits, you can maintain order, but you cannot require civility in a way that silences criticism and you cannot prohibit someone from addressing or referring to an individual counselor simply because of what they are saying.
So that you understand what I am saying. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the public officials cannot impose civility restraints or prevent citizens from speaking directly to or about officials as this violates free speech and assembly rights meaning individuals can criticize or address specific members.
So the question becomes can a council president overrule that? The answer is no. No one here has the authority to override constitutional constitutional protections of Massachusetts general laws. I also want to address something specific I saw in a recent interview where it was stated that only two people have been shut down during a public comment.
One of them being me. I actually find that quite troubling. President Mahoney. I was identified as out of town, as if someone diminishes my right to speak. I am a firefighter's wife and that agenda that night was solely for the firefighters, not just my husband, but all of them.
So, I had a right to get up and speak and I had a right to speak to councelor Wuan if I chose to. You stopped me from doing that and I don't appreciate that at all. And that actually I would like to say it when I call them the other firefighters I mean my husband's brothers and sisters because they are a family.
Public is not meant to be comfortable for elected officials. It is meant to allow public the public all affected members to be heard. Enforcing a rule I have to speed up. Apparently I have 19 seconds left.
I just want you to know that I know you guys were texting each other and getting a quorum ahead of time because councelor president w president Mahoney went to city council at the end of the meeting and she told him to extend my open leaning law violation.
So I have a public personal request to get all of your emails out of public. All right. Next up is Gina Favad Favvada. Hi. Um, my name is Gina Favvada. Uh, 151 Fenno Street, Quinsey, Massachusetts. Um, hello counselors.
This will be a little different tone. Um, first, thank you all for the work you've been doing and for setting up this open forum. I am very, very grateful for all of you. I came here specifically today to express my support of the polluters pay resolution that would require the worst carbon emitters to contribute to a super fund to pay for climate related damages in Massachusetts.
We need to hold responsible those who have caused the most damage. Our coastal city is in a very vulnerable position and will be on the front lines of climate change. This bill is a way to protect ourselves.
The flooding and heat in once in a-lifetimes event climate events will only become more frequent. historic storms will become mundane. So, this bill will provide us the funds to adapt our infrastructure and to shore up our defenses.
It's a total win and I appreciate that it was brought forward as a resolution so that we can support the state bill. But I also want to take this opportunity to add that Quinsey still lacks a comprehensive climate mitigation plan.
Supporting polluters play pay is an important step, but we also need to look inward. We should be doing more. We need to be part of the solution. We want I want to urge the council to look into resolutions for Quinsey that would would reduce our own carbon emissions that add to climate change.
We need to hold ourselves and those that we do business with responsible as well. So, as a board member of the Quinsey Climate Action Network, I ask that you take in consideration some of QCAN's priorities that will help reduce our emissions and protect our environment and ourselves.
We need to adopt the opt-in specialized stretch code. We've been advocating for this for years. Listen to us, please. We need to expand and improve our food waste and recycling efforts, and we need to strengthen our wetlands protections as our wetlands do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to storing carbon and protecting us from flooding.
QCAM will be reaching out to all of you in the upcoming months to discuss these things. So, please consider meeting with us, answering our emails, and helping us advocate for Quinsey's future. But today, please vote in favor of the polluter pay polluters pay resolution.
Thank you all. Thank you. Next we have Heather Dhoni to come up. Good evening. Um I'm Heather Dhoni and I live at 912 Southern Arty and I'm here to speak in favor of 20265, a resolution supporting H1014S588, an act establishing a climate change super fund.
And first I wanted to say thank you all for being my city counselors. I I appreciate the respectful space that you guys give for us. Um co-sponsored by Walter by W 3's Walter Hubley and W 5's Maggie McKe, two people whose work on parks and community and the tree canopy of Quinsey that I very much respect.
I was pleased to learn that my ward city councelor Richard Ash um is also in support of this measure and I believe others in this body may have also joined in and I would hate to leave anyone out. Um additionally, Senator Kenan whose work I respect at the state house level is sponsoring this legislation there.
When we are looking at power, sources of funding, and the people and groups who need to take civic responsibility seriously, holding the oil and gas industry accountable for its pollution, at least as much as we are able, is to me one of the most responsible and respectable courses of action a body like this can take.
And because it's crafted in a way that's based on money the oil and gas industry has already made, it's not something regular people will be paying for at the pump. When we're looking for resources to improve our way of life, whether it's better urban forests and parks and cleaner waterways, this would be a great way to do it.
And I'm proud to see something like this be supported by our city council. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Kathy Thron. Hi, my name is Kathy Thr. I live at 234 Ever Street. I wanted to do a little bit of a retrospective because it's gotten a little noisy in some ways.
And that retrospective is my memory of no public forum, no public hearing. I remember coming and the microphone was turned off, a gavvel was struck many times and I wanted to really get some response from my city counselors.
I wrote letters, I wrote emails, I made phone calls. Maybe I got a reply 10% of the time. This public forum is such a massive change and it is a change for good and it is a change that can also be uncomfortable.
And I know that because sometimes I sit and I listen and I go, "Oh god, why did we really want this?" But we do want it. And we do want to hear opinions that are contrary to our own because that's something that is foundational to all of our government and something I believe in very strongly.
So even if I don't like hearing what I'm hearing, I'm really very glad to hear it. So thank you. Thank you for the transparency. You guys won because you made a lot of campaign promises. I believe that your ordinances about fiscal responsibility are the right step in the right direction and your transparency is very refreshing.
Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we have S Dari. Sorry. Hi, S. Sorry if I mispronounced. Yes, that's pronounced correctly. It's Sal Dargy. Uh I live at 16 Bramfield Street in Quinsey. Um longtime resident.
I'm a longtime resident. Um, and I have a BS in finance, uh, from University of Maryland, an MBA at Northeastern University, and I'm the current treasurer at Squantam Yach Club. Uh, I have experience analyzing balance sheets, managing fiduciary duties, and from that lens, what I see gives me great concern.
I want to start by commending this council uh, and your commitment to financial transparency. It's crucial for building public trust and for making sound financial decisions. My primary concern remains uh our current fiscal strategy which appears to be spend today and pay for it later.
We must recognize that every dollar of debt that we issue today is a permanent tax uh on the residents of the city to be paid in the future. Uh I'm even more concerned that the spending is not evenly distributed and benefits few individuals instead of everyone.
A secondary concern I have is that we are not fairly taxing local businesses or enforcing fines s which are source of revenue. By failing to ensure that all local enterprises contribute their fair share, we inadvertently place a heavier burden on residential taxpayers.
Uh furthermore, the lacks enforcement of fines and non-compliance only diminishes our fiscal resources but also undermines rule of law and fairness of our local regulatory environment. So, we should optimize these existing revenue streams to strengthen our city's financial position.
Um, the pri the pattern of prioritizing immediate capital spending over long-term fiscal health is most evident in our in the proposal to purchase uh ENT's campus. Uh, while I recognize that the vision uh behind a project of that scale, pursuing it now with our credit rating uh when our credit rating is under pressure is a move that warrants caution.
uh we're acting as if we're in a period of infinite growth. Uh but the numbers that indicate that we're not prepared for a fiscal crisis uh in our in our city, in our state or at the national level. Uh right now the US has the highest possibility of a national fiscal crisis in recent history.
And I worry that the city is not prepared for that eventuality. I urge the council uh to use uh the transparency to conduct fiscal triage. Uh we need to restore uh our transparency. We need to cut down on spending and increase our revenues.
Uh thank you all very much for your hard work. Thank you for giving me the time to speak. Thank you. Next we have Joselyn Sedney. Hello, my name is Jocelyn Sedney. I live on Monroe Road in Quinsey. Um, I'm here again to speak about Corey Hills payments to the city.
I previously raised concerns regarding reconciliation provided by Quarry Hills. I left documents for you all to review to illustrate my concerns. Once again, I ask that the city council respond to concerns about recordkeeping and inconsistencies.
I brought additional records today with copies for you all. They're right here. I am looking at the 2022 thirdarter report from Quarry Hills. Looking at the page with the calculation of rent owed, each dollar figure provided is identified as a number for that period, the third quarter.
If in fact that number is supposed to be a cumulative number, it does not say that on that sheet. And if it is supposed to be mis uh cumulative, it is misleading. This is the basis for some of my complaints regarding inconsistencies regarding the reporting.
The bottom line is we need an audit. Further evidence of this can be seen in the listing of expenses taken. There is a list of permissible expenses listed on exhibit D of the current lease. For example, uniforms, menus, etc.
These are expenses take they're expenses taken from miscellaneous and deductions of rent paid to Quinsey. These are not allowable expenses. An audit would require production of re records to support the inclusion as permissible expenses.
They may be permissible but this should be examined as the numbers are significant. An audit has a very specific meaning. It is like an audit by the IRS. They see elicit expense. They want documentation to support it and they decide if it was a permissible expense.
The word audit is thrown around without regard to its significance. The administration may use it. Corey Hills may use it in describing the examination of finances that was done in November of 2024. This was not an audit.
I repeat, it was not an audit. And to support that statement, I refer to a November 2024 letter from the auditors Powers and Sullivan to Mr. Dela Barbara telling him that we did not audit or provide any form of assurances on these calculations.
They also could not opine on the allocation of administrative expenses which are huge and the reasonleness of the same. There are significant numbers taken as expenses. Furthermore, Powers and Sullivan recommended that the city and Quarry Hills conduct an audit annually or periodically and or have an agreed upon procedures engagement.
Our auditor recommended that an audit be done. There should be plenty of funds in the oversight fund to pay for an audit and audit should be done. Thank you. Thank you. And I think it's Claire Miller we have next.
Hello, I'm Claire Miller. They them pronouns. I live at 143A Beach Street, apartment 2, and I am here to encourage you to pass the resolution in favor of the climate super fund law um that we're hoping to get in the state legislature.
If you're not familiar with the bill, I just want to make sure everybody has their minds wrapped around it. It's very excellent. It's called a super fund law because it's based on the same principle from the 1980s toxic super fund law.
If you remember the Wuburn cancer cluster, right? When companies deliberately knowingly harm us, we hold them accountable. And that's exactly what the oil companies have done, right? They knew what they were doing when they kept selling and getting our economy completely addicted on oil and gas.
They knew that it was contributing to climate change. And so this law would hold them accountable for that. Find them that money, put that money into a pot for municipalities like us when we're going to get hit by more worse and worse storms so that we can become more resilient.
So I really hope that you support this with the resolution this evening and I appreciate you. Thank you very much. Is there anybody else here for open forum? Okay, there's one more. two more. That's okay.
Um, hi, my name is Brandon Lamb. I live at 80 Martinsson Street, 82 Martinsson Street. Um, like a lot of residents before, I'd also like to wholeheartedly express my support uh for the Make Polluters Pay/climate Super Fund um resolution tonight.
And um I'm a board member of QCAN and um you know our organization's all behind for it all for it too. Um everyone else made some really great points. I think two other things I want to emphasize or some concerns that people have about make polluters pay uh resolutions or bills.
Uh one concern is oh like you know why should companies have to pay this and the other concern being you know will this get passed on to consumers. So first uh should companies should these big polluters pay?
Absolutely. Um, as the resident before me just mentioned, uh, they knowingly deceived people into thinking that, uh, climate change wasn't an issue. Um, it's been proven from old files that Exxon, BP, potentially others have done internal research and development, uh, to verify that greenhouse the greenhouse gas effect was in fact happening and was going to raise uh, global temperatures and have catastrophic effects.
And after that they spent billions of dollars uh lobbying against any meaningful legislation uh making uh deceitful campaigns to try to say that climate change is um you know exaggerated or doesn't exist at all.
And so certainly if they can uh pay billions of dollars to try to deceive us like that they can also pay billions of dollars to try to help us adapt to the climate change uh that we have to deal with today.
And uh secondly on the concern that um does this actually get passed on to consumers. The beauty of uh these kinds of bills is uh no it does not um because it's uh made to charge from profits that companies have made in the past over a set period of time.
um these are more like fixed liabilities uh that these companies have to pay for and because it has a certain cut off in this case I believe it's uh a billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalents emitted over I think 20 30 years uh because of that cutoff um anyone who's been under that threshold does not have to pay that.
So for those who do have to pay this liability, they can't actually raise their oil or gas prices because then they won't be competitive with the um smaller emitters who didn't have to pay that. And we've actually seen historical precedent for this.
Uh like those toxic um super fund bills that got passed in the 1980s. Uh those chemical companies, they actually treated it as a legal liability that they had to pay for and they didn't raise prices on consumers to try to uh recoup those costs.
So it's really something where yes, companies uh should be held liable for this and uh no this should not have any negative effects on uh individual consumers. Thank you. Thank you. I think we have one more.
Uh good evening council. My name is Stuart Row and I live at 53 Woodbine Street in Wallist. Um, I wanted to as we head into, you know, budget season and there's lots of discussion around um, some large upcoming purchases in the city, I wanted to speak directly to a line that I have heard um, multiple times now and I know folks here have heard many times just about the uh, the downtown investment the the through the DI paying for itself.
um that is something that is often mentioned and it is I want to say it is technically true right now there are ways that it is being paid for through the diff mechanism but I think it's being presented in a way that is misleading um to further an agenda of more spending and the reason is we only have that mechanism until 2037 so that's 11 years um I'm not going to go into all the financial stuff I think some of the gentlemen um who have spoken on that have uh covered it pretty well.
But basically, there is not enough time. Um we'd have to get $50 million in grants from the state every year for the next 11 years or um somehow greatly increase revenues to to to fund that. And so anything that is not paid off for in the 20 by 2037, the third end of the 30 years does go to the general fund and will be paid for by taxpayers.
And so that's something I just want to bring up. Um, it's a very complicated mechanism. I've probably spent 150 hours trying to understand it myself. Um, and I just want people to know because, you know, there's a lot of folks here who I think will be living in Quinsey in 10 years.
Um, and want to keep living here and it is a great city. Um, and I just want people to know that that's that's what we're heading towards right now. And so we need to be doing what we can to get it down as much as possible before that period ends.
and then we'll just have to be very judicious going forward with how that goes. Um the other thing I want to speak to is this discussion of the debt by the city I think is kind of binary. It's um it's either like you know you you are totally for all of the uh investments the city may is has made or you're a naysayer or against it and that's really not true.
Um, I know I speak for myself that I think that investments in in strong public services is an excellent thing. I think buying new firefighter gear quickly and expeditiously is a good thing. I think that improvements to the downtown like the Adams Green is a wonderful thing.
There are some investments like paying over $250,000 per parking space for parking garages to stimulate development on the Ross lot that are less good for the city. Um, schools are good. I just I think there's there's a dichotomy that I want to speak to and I hope that people will recognize um that we we all want Quinzy to win, but there does need to be wisdom in the process with how those investments are made and decided on.
Thank you. Thank you. At this point, is there anybody else for open forum? Anybody else? All right, we're going to close that portion of the meeting. So, open forum is now closed. Then we're going to move on to the community preservation overview preservation and I'm going to turn this over to councelor Riley.
Thank you, President Mahoney. I would like to just provide a little bit of context here before we get into our presentation. This is brought here before us tonight at the request of this body. Um, as you may all recall, counselors, there was a community preservation fund request for a project for the Dorothy Quinsey Homestead that came before us several weeks ago, and it generated a lot of questions about the community preservation program, how it operates, um, and since we will be voting on the remaining projects for the 2026 2027 cycle in June.
This will give us a better understanding of how CPF operates. Um because many of us here are new and may not be all that familiar with the Community Preservation Act and its purpose or maybe we are and could probably learn a few things tonight.
We are fortunate to have with us here tonight Stuart Sagenor who is the executive director of the Community Preservation Coalition. The coalition was formed to help gain passage of the Community Preservation Act, which is the state legislation in 2000 and now helps communities navigate the adoption and administration of the program in the communities.
I'd like to recognize the members of our local committee who are here with us tonight. Jay Davis was who was the then Ward 4 city councelor was a big supporter of the CPA and who he introduced the council order once it had received the required ballot votes in November 2006.
Jay represents our conservation commission on this committee. PJ Foley sits on the committee representing our planning board. Tim Baker represents the housing board. Tom O'Brien represents the parks and rep wreck.
Um and Jim Sheridan and Ellen O'Donnell are both mayoral appointees here tonight. And I want to thank you all for being here. Um Tony Reachi, I think you did come in. You were down at the uh historical commission meeting last night.
And um I I think Cole Barry's the only one who's not here tonight. He is the chair of the committee and he's a big proponent of it, but he did have a family commitment tonight. Um, we also have uh Karen Otul who is our administrator of the program.
Karen is working diligently to get caught up on some of our old projects. Um, she manages all of the CPA applications, the reporting. She coordinates the meetings and she helps keep the program and our committee organized.
I am the newly appointed representative for the city council, but I would be remiss not to call out councelor Debana who served for eight 10 years. I think um and he certainly has a lot of knowledge to share in this matter.
Um and so at this time I would like to turn it over to Mr. Agenor and welcome him to Quinsey. Thank you. Thank you very much councelor Riley and I appreciate um you asking me to come down and talk about CPA.
It's uh something that I really love to do. I'm a little bit of a CPA geek after working on this program for 25 years. I was chairman of the local committee in my town up on the northshore for 5 years and I've been at the coalition for 20 years uh working on CPA and I think it's a terrific piece of legislation.
I had nothing to do with it passing at the state level um but I've been the beneficiary of um watching it across the state do tremendous things. So I have a a presentation for you this evening to give you sort of a highle overview of CPA.
Um, as uh, councelor Riley said, some of you might be new, and this, I think, would be good information, um, on the heels of, um, uh, approving one project and having more coming toward you in the next couple of weeks.
So, um, everyone can see the presentation on their own computer. Great. All right. So, let's, uh, step through it. And, um, Karen, you're going to have to help me with this because it doesn't appear to be working.
Also just hit this. The computer seems to be frozen actually. Yeah, because I had just hit the space bar. I can lean over the space bar. All right. Terrific. Super. All right. Thank you so much. Um, so quickly I'll tell you about uh the organization I represent, the Community Preservation Coalition.
We're a nonprofit in Boston and um for lack of a better term, we're the trade association I think for all the CPA committees and communities in the Commonwealth and we do things that um other organizations similar to ours do.
Uh the Mass Municipal Association helps you folks out on the council. The MACC helps out conservation commissions, etc. And we're that organization that helps out um CPA committees across the state. And the things we do are typical of all those organizations.
We answer about 4,000 questions a year on CPA, whether by email or telephone. Um, we have a terrific website, which you're all welcome to to take a peek at. It has extensive information on CPA. There is not one page on the state's website about CPA because they don't have a CPA office or any employees at the state who work on CPA.
They consider it to be a local program. So, uh, there's not much else on the internet except our our website. So, I encourage you to spend some time there. Um, we spend a lot of time working on Beacon Hill on your behalf, trying to get more money for the trust fund, which we've been successful at on two different occasions.
Um, and we do training sessions and presentations such as this one as well across the state. Um, so at its core, CPA is what we call enabling legislation. Um, it was passed by the legislature at the state level in 2000, but it was only a a piece of legislation that sat up on a shelf waiting for communities to adopt it.
Um, and that's what we call enabling legislation. So, it very well could have been the type of legislation that sat up on a shelf and gathered dust. Um, but it did not. Um, it has been tremendously successful across the state as we'll see.
Um once the legislation passed and was signed by Governor Sluchi and that's um uh him doing that back in uh 2000 uh then communities could put it on their local ballot uh to adopt it in their community and only communities that wanted it and passed it at the ballot um have CPA.
the program. When you're voting for CPA, you are actually voting yourself a very small tax increase that goes into a restricted fund for the community to work on four different types of projects. Historic preservation projects, open space, which is conservation land, waterfront property, agricultural land, things like that.
recreation, which is active outdoor recreation, parks, playgrounds, athletic fields, community gardens, trails, things like that, and also community housing. Um, so the town or the town or city votes that slight tax increase, the money flows into a restricted fund and then the community preservation committee is responsible for making recommendations to spend that money to the city council.
Um, it's been, as I said, a huge success across the state. We have 201 cities and towns that have adopted CPA. Um, that's just over half the municipalities in the state. But because we have most of the large cities in the program, almost 3/4ers of the people that live in Massachusetts live in a CPA community.
And we're really u proud of the fact that of every community that has ever voted the program, no one has voted to leave the program. It's an option at any time for communities after they've had it for 5 years to revoke CPA.
Um, and it's a real testimony, I think, to the quality of life issues and the things that CPA can pay for that unfortunately usually do not fit in your pressured uh regular budget. It's a real testimony to that that every community that has ever adopted the program has liked it enough to stay in it and continue to tax themselves a small amount for this for this purpose.
This is the map of um CPA communities in the state. The green are all the towns that we have and the orange is the growing number of cities. CPA was pretty much a suburban phenomenon in its first five to eight years.
Uh in the past decade or so, we've seen tremendous adoption in the cities across the Commonwealth and cities that adopt CPA um range from very large to very small, wealthy, bluecollar. Um we have gateway cities in the program.
Um Springfield, Pittsfield, uh Chelsea, Fall River, New Bedford, Salem, Beverly. A lot of these communities, most of these communities have come in in the past decade or so. Quincy was on the little bit of the cutting edge having adopted in 2006.
We probably only had four or five cities at the time in CPA uh back then. So kudos to you folks for getting on board uh early with the program. And you'll see the the impact of that in a moment when I share some statistics for you.
When you look at that map, that's one way to determine the the impressive acts of CPA and what it's done statewide. Um, and one thing I didn't mention at that map, um, the the thing that astounds me is that in every one of those communities, at some point the majority of the citizens stepped into the voting booth and pulled the trigger to tax themselves.
If you think about that for a second, um, a lot of communities that have CPA have never had a Prop 2 and a half override. I don't think Quincy, am I correct, has never had a Proposition 2 and a half override.
Boston has never had one. Chelsea, Springfield. Yet, these communities are willing to do this for these quality of life issues with CPA. And you can see the impact of that statewide. There's been about 18,000 votes at city councils and town meetings across the state to appropriate money for these projects.
Believe it or not, between the local money and the state contribution, which I'll describe in a second, it's closing in on $4 billion in just 25 years. So when you add up the local search charge of all the communities across the state and the matching money that comes from the state, almost $300 million a year is flowing to these four quality of life issues.
Historic preservation is very much the most popular category in terms of numbers of appropriation, not necessarily money. The money actually rolls up pretty evenly statewide um across these four categories.
Uh but historic preservation definitely has the most um appropriations and you'll see when I show the Quincy statistics that's true here as well because of the nature of Quincy being a very historic city of course.
Um in open space we're closing in on 40,000 acres that have been protected across the state. Um outdoor recreation is definitely the hottest category of CPA. There were some changes made at the legislature in 2012 that made it much easier to rehabilitate your existing parks, playgrounds, and athletic fields.
Before that, you could only build new ones uh and buy land for new ones, but you couldn't fix up the ones you already had. And we fought at the legislature for 5 years to get that changed. And it happened in 2012.
And now that that category has been huge um in that short period of time since the legislature changed that. And then the final category, probably the Commonwealth's biggest issue at this point and the one really holding us back the most is uh affordable housing.
And we're very happy that almost 40,000 units have been contributed in some way to CPA. But as you know and as you've been reading about and as you hear about every single day, we've certainly got a long way to go uh statewide on that issue.
All right. So the basics of CPA, how does it work? Well, when you adopt CPA, the community chooses how much they want to put into their local fund. Um, the maximum is 3% of your property tax search charge.
That local contribution is called the local CPA search charge. And every community decides what level they want to participate at. We have a couple of communities that are at half of 1%. We have 72 communities that are at 3% and then the others are somewhere in between like Quincy.
Um we also have a dedicated state CPA trust fund. Um and I'll explain more about that trust fund in a minute. Um that money is distributed to CPA communities every November 15th. So you get a check from the state trust fund every year on November 15th.
It is not subject to appropriation by the state legislature. It's in the statute. It's a dedicated fund. It's a true trust fund. And the only thing that can happen with that money is that it's paid as a match to the 201 CPA communities um every November 15th.
So, a little bit more about that trust fund because it really is some of the magic of CPA is this trust fund. And you'll see when I again when I show the statistics for Quincy how impactful that has been.
Um like I said, is it a true trust fund that the Department of Revenue uh administers? The fees that flow into that trust fund, the revenue that flows into that trust fund does not come from the state budget.
It comes from a dedicated fee that was written into the 2000 legislation signed by Governor Saluchi. And that fee is a collection on top of filings at the state's registry of deeds. CPA at its core is a landbased act.
Most of it is about landbased uses, capital improvements to land. So the legislature tied the funding source for the trust fund to the registry of deeds, which is um a landbased program in Massachusetts to record documents.
So every time someone anywhere in the state records a document at the registry, they step up to the window. There is a fee on a chart. Most of that fee goes to the state's general fund, but $50 of every document recorded at any registry across the state flows directly from that window when it's collected to the Department of Revenues CPA trust fund.
um that then sits in the trust fund for up to one year on November, by the way, it earns interest at the state level and that's paid back into the fund. And then on November 15th, the checks go out to the 201 communities according to a formula contained in the legislation.
Um the formula actually pays a exact same amount to each community based on how much they collected. Um, so if the match is a what we call a 16% match, um, that's what it was last year, uh, that means each community received as a a trust fund payment 16% of what they collected locally.
So the smallest community in the state that we have in CPA is Gnold. Anyone know where Gaznold is? Am I going over here on Gaznold? Cuddy Hunk. Does that ring a bell? the Elizabeth Islands. There there's Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and then there's this long little string of islands called the Elizabeth Islands.
And the last island is the inhabited one. Uh the Forbes family owns a lot of the other islands, and it's called Cuddy Hunk. It's a sailing capital. Year- round population, I think 50. They collect a grand total of $5,000 a year from CPA.
So, they got a check from the trust fund for 16% of 5,000. Boston is the largest community in the state. I believe they collected around $27 million in their local fund last year. They got a check for 16% of 27 million.
Um so that's how the trust fund payments work. Everyone receives the same percentage of what they collected. Um so um your program was adopted as I mentioned in 2006 at the November 2006 election. Um, it actually got to the ballot not by a city council vote.
In most communities, it gets to the ballot by a city council vote or a town meeting vote, but there was an alternate procedure for uh advocates to collect signatures from 5% of the registered voters. The city council back in 2006 um did not approve putting it on the ballot.
So that summer um I it was my first summer at the coalition. Um, folks, is there there must be a stop and shop in Quincy, right? There's got to be a stop and shop in Quincy. They all stood out in front of Stop and Shop and they collected three or 4,000 signatures that summer.
Uh, team of of advocates who wanted to get it on the ballot. Um, and it passed pretty uh pretty overwhelmingly. 57% voted yes. Sorry about that. I just hit that. Um, which is 14,491 folks. And 43% voted no at that ballot.
Um, so what the voters approved was a 1% CPA search charge on top of your taxes, on top of the tax base. Um, like I said, you could have chosen up to 3%. We've had communities adopt at one and later raise it.
We've had communities lower when they have other priorities, which is a feature of the program. Um, and you folks chose a 1% search charge. You also chose two exemptions to help folks who are are have less of ability to pay the search charge.
The first exemption you chose was to exempt the first 100,000 of residential home value. So if you have a home valued at 400,000, you only pay the CPA search charge on 300,000 of that value. But if you have a home valued at 1 million, you pay the search charge on 900,000.
So, it really is designed to help people who have smaller uh more modest homes who presumably cannot afford as much to pay into the search charge. And you also adopted a lowinccome or low to moderate income senior exemption.
That's a full exemption if someone fits the income eligibility limits um of a low income or if they're a senior, they can go up to moderate income. um they are entitled every year once their tax bill comes out in January to file an exemption application at the assessor's office or the tax collector's office.
It depends upon the community. And if they're approved, they are fully exempt from the search charge that year. So those are the two exemptions uh that you adopted. Uh there is a third exemption that didn't exist in 2006 that was uh put in place um uh during some advocacy that we did at the legislature which to to the exempt the first 100,000 of commercial value to help small businesses.
That was not available to you in 2006. That didn't come along in 20 until 2012. Um but it is available now if if communities want to new communities want to adopt it or if existing communities want to go back to the ballot and adopt um that exemption.
Obviously it'll lower your CPA revenue um but it would also um help small businesses a little bit. So how is that calculated? So I did a a typical calculation for you to show you how that 1% works. Um, so we took the average home value according to the Department of Revenue in Quincy, which is $700,000.
I believe that's the single single family, not the not including condos or commercial. So this is a a sample search charge for someone who owns a home valued at $700,000. You have that 100,000 exemption.
So the first 100,000 comes off and now you're only paying the CPA tax on $600,000 of household value. Um, you take that 600,000 of of value, multiply it times your municipal tax rate of $11.78. Did we get that right?
Is that the municipal tax rate in residential in Quincy? That changes every year, of course. Uh, and so the property tax bill of that homeowner that is subject to the search charge would be a little over $7,000.
then you apply the 1% to that and therefore this homeowner that owns a home valued at 700,000 would pay $71 a year into the CPA fund. Um so that's the average single family um home value. So half the people in the city are paying less, half the homeowners, half the homeowners are paying uh more than that.
So but $71 is the average payment per year. It appears on all four tax bills. So it's divided by four and it is separately itemized on the tax bill so people can see so it's transparent. It shows all your other taxes and then it shows the CPA search charge separately so people can see that is a search charge on top of the taxes and that it is a voluntary thing that the town uh the city voted into.
So what has that meant for Quincy uh since you adopted in 2006? Well, you've collected about $32 million in that local search charge money from that 1% search charge and you've received just about $10 million from the state trust fund for being involved in the CPA program.
So, that's a pretty good return on investment. Um, I don't know of any Prop 2 and a half override in the Commonwealth that comes with a match uh from the state every year, a guaranteed match. The amount's not guaranteed, but you will get a match.
the amounts that fluctuate based on collections at the registry and of course the number of uh cities and towns that are in the program. So, so far the program has generated about $42 million um in the first I guess this is your 20 20th anniversary too if it's my 20th year at the coalition.
This is your 20th anniversary of CPA. So, did the CPC bring a cake tonight? No, they did not. Okay. All right. Um we'll fix that with that problem. So, what have you done with that funding? Well, um, like I said, historic is pretty popular in Quincy for obvious reasons.
This building, this phenomenal building being one of them. I know when I came to train the CPC in 2007 or maybe it was early 2008, this building was closed, dark, abandoned, um, and shut and there was a asphalt out there, right?
A parking lot or a street or something. This is phenomenal what you folks have been able to do here. And I know CPA has had a part of that. Um, and uh, historic is clearly the most popular category in Quincy for obvious reasons.
Um, 13 housing appropriations have been done for $4 million. Open space about $4 million as well. 36 different appropriations in that category. And like I said, the outdoor recreation category in 2012 that probably said one or two because it was not really easy to use CPA money.
And now that you can fix up your parks, playgrounds, and athletic fields as long as they are outdoor and permanently dedicated to recreation, that's become very popular across the state. And it's become very popular here in Quinsey, too, as you can see from this data.
Um, this data comes from a statewide database. um Karen and all the other CPA administrators across the state, every year after you folks pass your CPA projects, they go into a state database and they put in about 50 data points on every project and then that database is displayed on our website.
Um and you can slice and dice the the appropriations down to the project level on every community in the state. You can choose I I did a little sample here for the screen. I chose Quincy. Um, left all years and all categories blank.
And it, if you scroll down, it would list, you know, all 200 or so appropriations that the council has made for different CPA projects. And when you click on that red title to the project, it opens up all the details on that project, the amount, how many acres it was, the address, um, a description of what it was, etc.
So, it's an extremely transparent program. Um, anyone can go on the website and search through the state data and see exactly down to the project level and the date of the appropriation by the council and a description uh of every single project.
And I'd encourage you to do that. You probably, if you're new to the council, you'd probably be surprised. Oh, we didn't know CPA paid for that, CPA paid for that. Look through those projects. It's pretty impressive um what you folks have approved um since 2006.
All right. So, now let's talk about the community preservation committee because they're the ones charged in the legislation with overseeing your local CPA fund. Um, once you adopted CPA, the council then passed a CPA ordinance for the committee.
Um, and that was done I think in 2007 or so. Um, the state the state legislation requires five members uh what we call statutory members. You don't have a choice on those. So you have to appoint someone from the con or the conservation commission picks someone from their own committee to be appointed to the CPC to represent the conservation issues in town.
Someone from the planning board, housing authority, parks and wreck and historic commission are the five statutoily required members of the CPC. You can have at your option up to four more at large members, which the council chose to do in 2007 when you passed the ordinance.
Um so here is how your CPA um committee was determined by the ordinance that you passed. Um it's a nine-member committee. It's comprised of one member from each of those five statutory boards we talked about.
And those members those boards vote who they want to be the representative to the CPC. Um then you have uh a member of the city council which is currently councelor Riley that sits on the me on the committee and then three members at large from the community round out the nine members of the CPC.
The role of that committee is to vet the projects that uh are going to come before the council. The committee actually can't spend any money. Um, on the other hand, the council can't spend any CPA money unless the committee first recommends the project to you.
So, there's kind of a checks and balances there. The CPC can't spend and do projects on their own. They can only recommend to you. You approve them, but you can't initiate the spending on your own either.
And I'll explain why that is in a minute. It goes to the nature of the fund and what it is. So the CPC's job is to set up a process where they accept ideas for projects from the community and from the city too.
If a department head has an idea of something he wants to do in a park, he applies to the CPA fund. If a counselor or the mayor has an idea, they apply to the CPA committee. And there's a process that is determined completely locally in terms of timing what requirements there are in the application.
There's nothing in the legislation that dictates that. That was all set up by the CPC at the very beginning. So, there's an extensive process uh that they go through to look and vet at each of these applications.
Um they also are in charge of recommending an annual budget to the city council for their administrative expenses and their required reserve accounts. Um and then the main part of what they do is um look through these projects, uh interview folks, get feedback from across the city, do a lot of due diligence, debate these projects, and then finally make a a determination on what they're going to recommend to the council and um the the name of the project, the description of it, the amount that they're recommending, and then also the funding source within the CPA fund because there are certain different accounts within the fund.
They recommend which funding source to take the fund uh money from. And as I mentioned, there's worth repeating. Both a CPC recommendation and city council approval are required for any CPA funds to be appropriated.
There's only one requirement in the legislation about how you spend your funds, and it's a pretty light one, but it does say that every single year, the CPC must recommend and you must approve spending 10% of your total annual revenue.
Total annual revenue would be your local funds plus your matching funds from the state. Every year you have to take 10% of that and spend it on housing projects or put it in the housing reserve account for future spending because you might not have any housing applications that year.
Uh you need to take another 10% um and spend it on open space and recreation projects or put it in the open space and recreation reserve and also 10% for historic. Open space and recreation share a reserve account.
Um, so that fund can be spent on traditional conservation land, which is not a real popular thing in urban cities, uh, because you don't have a lot of conservation land, but there is some, and you've purchased some conservation land with CPA funds.
And then recreation is, as we mentioned, active outdoor parks, playgrounds, athletic fields, community gardens, things like that. Um, the CPC can also recommend that the council approve up to 5% of the total on administrative funds to run the committee and to pay staff salaries and um other various things that they might need as part of their due diligence through the year.
Most communities spend far less than the five 5% and at the end of the year that money is automatically transferred by the city when they close their books back into the CPA fund and the council appropriates a new administrative fund for the CPC.
The rest of the money is optional. Um and that money can be spent all on one project in one category. It can be spent on many different projects and many categories. um it and it changes year to year depending upon what the applications are.
So there's only a very light touch from the state in terms of what you have to do. They just wanted to make sure that there was some contribution to each of the three uh buckets of CPA every single year.
And the way the uh project cycle works um the CPC is uh determines this locally in every community. Um the proponents submit applications. Usually there's a a deadline. A cycle happens usually once a year in most communities.
Um folks submit that application. The application asks for extensive information about the project including a budget. Um that application then goes to the CPC. They review the project. So um a typical cycle starts in the fall.
I don't know if you start that way too. Um, and then throughout the winter, um, the CPC, uh, meets with applicants, does due diligence, asks questions, gets feedback from across the community, um, debates the project, uh, digs into the budget, um, and then finally sometime late winter, um, early spring, votes a slate of recommended projects to send to you.
Um, by the time they get sent to you, they've been studied pretty pretty darn closely. Um, that's the whole role of the CPC. That's why the legislature put a nine-member committee in charge of the funding.
Um, they could have just as easily said folks would just apply to the council and if the project was legal, the council would look at it, but they wanted a broad cross-section of people from the community to sit on the CPC and really dig into these projects and look at them holistically as to what the best priorities were for the city.
So that's why they created a CPC with that kind of level of recommendation control over the money. Um once the recommendations come to you, you then vote them up or down. Um and it's a majority vote at the council to approve uh most CPA projects.
Uh twothirds vote uh usually required to buy land, real property interest. So land for a park or land for housing or to buy a historic structure. uh twothirds vote if any bonds are taken out on the project which it is possible to bond under the CPA revenue stream against future the future 1% searchcharge that would be a two-thirds vote.
Um eminent domain which I don't think is used that often is also a twothirds vote. So other than that the majority vote at the council approves those uh project recommendations or or turns them down. So what can you spend this money on?
Well, that I could talk forever, but um I need to wrap up my presentation and allow time for questions. Um it's not. You'd think it'd be very simple, right? Um but it's not it. This is a question. Probably 80% of our questions come on allowable uses.
Is it possible to spend CPA money on question mark? Um this chart from the department of revenue is pretty helpful. Um it it is obvious that you know the four categories are there, right? Everyone knows CPA's housing, historic preservation, recreation, and open space.
What's really not understood though is CPA can't pay for every every possible project connected to those categories. Far from it. Um CPA is really a capital improvement fund. So you need to be doing a project that is described by one of those um verbs on the left hand side of the chart.
you need to be acquiring something, creating something, preserving, supporting or rehabilitating. And there are definitions of all those words in the act. Um, as well as definitions of the four categories as well in the act.
And you can see that not every uh category has every verb available to it. So when a CPC looks at the budget, they find the the box on the chart that justifies the expense. If it says yes in it, it's a legal expense.
If it says no in it, it's not a legal expense. Or if it's not even on the chart, it's not a legal expense. And um those recommendations would not would not come before you. Um so beyond the scope of tonight to really dig into this chart, u normally when I do a training, um we give examples and I step through how you make those decisions, um at the CPC level and how they vet projects, but happy to answer any questions on that.
U as well. Um, one thing that um, I do want to emphasize is that the legislature set CPI CPA up to be a very separate fund from the city's general fund. Um, most of the things in CPA, these quality of life issues, you do not have a line item in your regular budget.
You don't have a line item to buy conservation land. Um, you don't have a line item to build affordable housing, for example. You probably don't have a line item for major capital improvements to historic buildings.
um in town. Um so the lack of the ability to put those things in the regular budget, your budget is just like any city in town in the Commonwealth, incredibly pressed, right? There's just not enough um to pay for police, fire, roads, all the things that keep the city humming.
This was designed to be a completely separate budget from that. Um, and whereas most of the municipal expenses are really a top-down approach, you know, where the the mayor, the council, department heads, you know, make those budget requests and pass that budget, CPA is designed to be a communitydriven, bottoms up approach to spending the money.
Um, and that's why the first word in Community Preservation Act is community. Um, everyone, you know, is entitled to a great idea of how to spend this money. It was a voluntary um tax that the voters approved and the the driving force of CPA was designed to be the community and community giving input as to how that money should be spent.
So a bottoms up approach um rather than a top- down approach. And the money is completely separate. It's actually illegal for any CPA money to find its way back into the general fund of the city to reimburse or supplant.
It's called the no supplanting language. So they are completely separate budgets. Um and um um then never the two shall mix. Um so the last thing I have for you tonight real quick um is I just wanted to give you some ideas of things that CPA can be spent on just to give you a flavor of the projects that are done around the state and I'll roll through these pretty quickly.
Um but historic preservation as I mentioned the most popular category. Um uh res restoration of historic municipal buildings is clearly the top category in the historic uh funding. You spent some money on this building.
I know the library has received a tremendous amount of funding in many other historic buildings across town as well. Um grants to nonprofit community groups um is a very popular part of CPA statewide and here in Quincy as well.
Um, typically that's not part of your regular general fund. Um, but it is a big part of CPA because the community groups are the ones that really make a lot of these quality of life issues happen across the across the city.
Um, there has to be a proper way to do those. Um, it's a little more uh difficult to spend public money on private um properties. There's a a procedure and steps the CPC has to go through and the city has to go through.
Um, sometimes a preservation easement can secure that investment. Um, but it is a terrific um, use of funding. Actually, I'm noticing the bottom right picture is not in Quincy, but it is the Abigail Adams birthhouse in in Weimouth.
Um, that was completely rehabbed with uh with CPA funds. um in the land protection category, protecting vulnerable land, and you do have some, you know, um along the along the coast and different places in the community where where CPA funds have been spent to protect that land.
um outdoor recreation, playgrounds, um parks, athletic fields, uh trails, community gardens, skateboard parks, outdoor basketball courts, outdoor swimming pools, um pocket parks, um anything that is outdoor that is permanently dedicated to recreation, um is available for CPA funding.
Um the affordable housing category is the last one I'll talk about. CPA can contribute toward affordable housing projects that is that are occupied by folks earning up to 100% of the areawide median income.
Most other state and federal programs are limited to 80% to low income, but CPA appropriations can be for up to 100% so they can be dedicated to moderate income uh development as well. um that um uh estimate or that that level has not ever changed with CPA and there's some consideration at the legislature to raise that because prices on homes have far outstripped people's income.
So, um folks who earn even maybe 150% sometimes can't afford to buy in their own community. So, there's some consideration to raising that as well. Um we've had a lot of different specialty housing uh constructed with CPA funds.
I believe the bottom right is a veterans uh group home in in Quincy with services. Um Dartmouth and Weimoth are the other ones that are examples on this. Um Habitat for Humanity and other nonprofit partners are um a big user of CPA fundings across the state.
Community development corporations um and other nonprofits that um apply for CPA funds. So that's what I have for you tonight. Um, and I'm happy to answer any questions. And I know the CPC is well represented here as well.
If there are specific questions on on the Quincy projects or the Quincy program, how did I do on time? Uh, President Mahoney, you did pretty good. Okay. All right. Good. I I was getting a little worried because I was looking at the size, but but no, you you really sped it up there.
So, I'd like to open it. Do you have any anything more you'd like to add, Councilman? So, moving on to Council McKe. Thank you so much for coming. This is great. Um, so one of the things that happened last time that that we learned about um was that if it's not a city project, if the city isn't doing it and it's a private group, they don't have to get the three bids for something over $10,000 like you know, state law requires for government even though ultimately they're just sort of paying for it and then getting reimbursed by the taxpayers.
Correct. Has there been any discussion at the state level to require require more than one bid for um non-governmental applicants? Not that I know of. Um the way um we have an article all about this on our on our website um which we wrote in conjunction with the state procurement office um because that came up a lot early is obviously any CPA appropriation on a municipal asset has to go through all the same procurement.
It's just another city project at that point. Um but the grants that are made to private organizations are just that they are grants. Um the state does the same thing. The state makes, you know, you see all the earmarks in the state budget that give grants to, you know, thousands of private projects across the state every year as part of the budget process.
That's just about to happen. Um uh up on Beacon Hill. It's happening right now. Actually this week I think the house is doing their budget and there'll be tons of earmarks in there and the same thing um they are just grants to the private organization.
So you're actually you don't want to be in charge of the bidding it's not your um issue and if you um take too much control of that um that's against the state's procurement laws. So the way it works is um the uh applicant applies to the CPA fund.
They have all the due diligence done by the CPC. The council appropriates that money and then the best practice um which hopefully is happening here in Quincy is a matter of fact I think we used your grant agreement as a sample on our website so I know it's happening.
um the city legal department and the CPC and the mayor's office and the procurement folks and the finance folks, whoever does it in the community prepares a contract. We call that a grant agreement and that specifies all the rules for the project.
Um and the nothing happens until that contract is executed and signed between the city and the private organization. Um and it has all the rules for oversight um and timing and that sort of thing. Um, and then the applicant is in charge of doing the project themselves.
You don't want to take the liability for that, right? They choose the contractor. If there's a problem with the contractor, that's not your problem. That's theirs. So, they hire the contractors, they figure out how to select the person, they do the oversight, they do the quality control.
Once it's all done, they submit for reimbursement. the CPC um or um Karen's office or whoever it is that checks that over. Often there's a site visit to make sure that what was done was exactly what was described in that contract and only then does the city reimburse that organization um for the grant that they made.
So there are definite checks and balances and proper ways to do those projects. Um but you don't want to be um liable for what someone does on their private organization by getting involved in their procurement.
Yeah, I I might disagree just a little bit just because it's it's ultimately the taxpayers who are funding this. So it's I would rather have multiple bids and you know um more than one anyway. But but I understand what you're saying.
I mean, I I think that I defer to the to the um municipal council on this one, but I think there would be a way to put in that grant agreement some requirements like that. Um you know, it but again, it wouldn't be the city choosing or reviewing those those bids because now you're getting involved in it and you could be liable.
So, um this is not a CPA rule, by the way. This is a state procurement rule. So, um, CPA works no differently than all those, um, earmarks and grants that the state makes. They all work the same way. So, there's nothing we could do in the CPA legislation that would overrule the state procurement laws.
That's the way they work for private projects. Um, but certainly, you might want to talk about what you could do in the grant agreement if that's a concern. We don't see um just to make you a little um more at ease, we don't see many issues with this.
Um it's been around, the act's been around for 25 years and you know, we've never seen, you know, a front page expose on the globe of of something going wrong. Um those checks and balances work pretty darn well and I cannot really think of any uh issues offhand that have that have happened, but certainly something to look out for.
Thank you. I have another question if that's okay. One quick one. Um, so how does Quincy compare to other communities in terms of the bonding that happens? So, you know, we know that we're going to have this amount of money coming in every year.
Um, and so we can say, you know, we're going to borrow against this income stream for some project that fits into these categories, right? Have you looked at, you know, bonding across different cities?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a great report on our website. We have something called the datab bank, and there's a section called statewide reports. And if you scroll down in there, you will find a report of every single project that has been bonded by every CPA community across the state.
It'll show the date, the name of the project, the description of the project, the term of the bond, whether it was 10, 20, or up to 30 years. Um, and it um, and then it summarizes, you know, the bonds in those communities.
We probably have had about 2third anecdotally of our communities that have bonded um, at some point. Um, there's a, last time I checked, over half of um, a billion dollars of outstanding bonds um, on CPA projects.
And just to clarify, these are bonds that are taken out under the 1% searchcharge. So they are going to be paid back by the CPA fund in the future under that 1% searchcharge. So they don't increase anyone's taxes in any way, shape or form.
They don't require a Prop 2 and a half override. You've already had your override vote in a sense to get that 1% searchcharge. So the electorate has already approved that. You're just bonding under that search charge.
So it is very different than most of the bonds that the city takes out which are over and above the regular budget. this is contained within that budget. Um, but yes, there's very transparent. That's one of those, remember I said there were 50 data points in every project.
One of them is did you bond, how long was the bond, how much was the bond, and so there's a great report on our website that you can look through. I don't know offhand how Quincy looks, you know, in terms of how many projects they bonded, but the CPC might be able to answer that or uh someone can or I can quickly sit down and go on the website and tell you.
That's okay. I can I can look too. I didn't know about that. That's awesome. Thank you. Great. So, I'm gonna move on to Councelor um Jacobs and then on to Council Hub. All right. Kind of going off um Councelor McKe's last question.
Um you know, you said that twothirds vote uh was needed for a bond. Um I just kind of had a question around that. Um let's say, you know, a project was bonded, so like this building was bonded, right?
And we're paying for I don't know how many, let's say, 30 years. And then you said that the city could reduce the percentage of how much we pay in taxes. So right now you're saying Quinsey is 1%. If if I'm not saying, you know, I'm just curious if if we bonded this project for 30 years and thinking we were going to have 1%, you know, back every year and then we decided to cut it to half a percent.
I mean, is can the city do that or or is it they can? Yes, they can. And let me explain. the the legislature definitely thought of this issue ahead of time. Uh I think the bond councils made sure that they had a plan for that.
So the way that would work, bonding against your future revenue stream does not take away the abilities right to revoke or reduce CPA. The town can the city can still go ahead and revoke or reduce CPA.
What would happen at that point is all the existing money in the fund that is unspent would be encumbered to pay back that bond. If that wasn't enough to pay back the outstanding bonds, the searchcharge would continue on the tax bill until enough money was acred to pay off the bond.
Then the searchcharge would fall off the tax bill. No new projects could be done. The all the revenue and the state matching money that came in, you would still get your state match even though you were revoked community.
If you're still collecting a local search charge, you'd still get the state matching money and all that m money would be encumbered by the city until they had enough to pay off the bond. There's two ways it can happen.
Um, according to do and you need do's permission to do this. Um, you could continue the search charge at the full 1% in which case you'd acrew the money to pay back the bond faster or you can reduce the search charge to.24%.
you know, they would calculate exactly how much money you need every year for the next 15 years and you can reduce it to that level and that would stay on the tax bill until it was paid off. The city would have the option to do it either way, but you need do approval um to do on which method you choose.
But they definitely thought of that and there is a procedure in place um for that to happen. Okay. Uh one last question. Um you know you talked about these projects are are community you know driven by members of the community.
Um what would happen in in the uh example if let's say someone in community wanted to do a project in Quinsey I don't know exactly if the application is different town to town but in Quinsey you have to have a department head's authorization at least if it's happening in a public um on public property.
So, what if that department head was like, "Yeah, I'm not interested in that project." Is it still really then communitydriven if the community is calling for it and the department head says no? Great question.
And that's really a local decision um in terms of the CPA committee and how they've set up their applications. Um most committees um will ask the applicants to first go to the city department that is in charge of that asset and get their vote of support.
Um, typically, um, that's either a letter or, um, it's even better if the city department is willing to put their name on the application or maybe as a co-licant as well. Um, ultimately, nothing can happen on city land without the approval of the board or committee that is in charge of that project.
So, you know, yes, you may have a situation where someone applies, the CPC loves it and approves it. Um, the council loves it and approves it, and then the department doesn't do it. And that's certainly, you know, a possibility.
I never see it happen because it usually doesn't get that far. Um, but, uh, usually the, uh, CPC has procedures in place. I haven't read your particular application. Um, but usually that requires a buyin from the the city department that is in charge of that land first before because the CPC wouldn't want to go through the whole exercise of due diligence and, you know, public hearing and all those things about a project uh, unless they were pretty sure that they also wouldn't want to encumber the money, you know, and then just have it not done.
So, most communities sort that out through the process of the application, but that's a local procedure. Okay. Thank you, Councelor Hubley. Thank you, President Mahoney. U first a a comment and then second a question.
So, this is a great program. Um very happy that the city of Quinsey overwhelmingly voted to put in place the CPA. Um so many great things have been done. Back in 2013-14 when I was president of the of um Walston Hill Neighborhood Association, our team uh made use of a local park, a passive park, and there weren't many resources there.
It was just an empty park really. And you could tell it was formerly the site of the old Wallist Elementary School. And you can actually still see the indentation of where the foundation was back and that that building got torn down in 2013.
No, sorry, 1913. Um, so not much had been done uh to that uh park and we ended up getting working with a bunch of neighbors, did like three different community meetings to get input, worked with a landscape architect and came up with a bunch of improvements.
It's still a passive park, but we've added some electrical facilities, some water, we repointed some of the old granite wall. We now uh we have we've redone all the lighting and the steps and staging.
And I I guess I would say prior to 2013, if you had said Safford Park, most people would say, "Where's that? what is that? But now it's more recognizable site because we do all kinds of programming in that area.
We do concerts in September called Saturdays in the Park. We do meet and greets. We do all kind now uses it for their end of year festival. So it's become a great resource. It's actually become the neighborhood's hearth over where I live.
So it can have an amazing impact. was also surprised to learn since that project was completed in 2014 that I we still have a if I'm reading correctly $13929 left in the account which I had no idea. Um and I think if David Potter is listening he's probably trying to pick out a tree right now that we can plant with that money but I'll digress.
Um, so my question is, if you had advice for the city council or any other governing body for a community that has enacted CPA, what what are the some of the things we should be careful about or are there any problems that other communities have run into that we could learn from here in Quinsey?
Well, um, one of the things that I didn't mention was the issue of maintenance. Um, CPA cannot be used for any type of maintenance. It cannot be used for programming. It can't be used for ongoing um ex operational expenses um for city properties or city programs.
And very honestly um the definition of maintenance is the IRS definition and in the CPA legislation and it's not all that helpful. Um but CPA is a capital improvement program. So there's a definition of capital improvement and that definition is very helpful.
Um it talks about um uh the expense being a physical improvement to the land that is designed to remain there indefinitely in such installed in such a way that removing it would harm the land. So not a bench that's just placed on the ground that could be moved somewhere else but a a bench that is installed in a you know in the ground for example.
Um so um I think we do see a lot of communities struggle with that definition of what is maintenance and what is a capital improvement. Um we can help with that. Um but it's really specific to the individual projects.
Um but that would be one issue to look out for is to make sure that CPA funds are not being used for maintenance programming or on ongoing operational issues. So that's that's one thing I can think of off the top of my head.
That's that's also a very good thing to consider and I'll I'll close with this. Um because when we originally did the proposal we had included in their gazebo for the park and you know the CPC looked at and said well you know maybe we'll give you 143,000 not 178 which is what you're looking for come back later for the gazebo but one of the considerations we had in that which is why we ended up not doing it is the ongoing maintenance of that and how we're going to fund that and what kind of unnecessary burden we might put on the general taxpayer for that project.
So, you know, we we kept the park a very passive park and it's worked out really great. Thank you for your answer. I appreciate it. No problem. That is a a really good point. Um, you know, we're we try to be very honest about the warts of the program.
Um, CPA is a capital improvement program, so it can pay the big money to completely build a new park, but it can't pay the money to maintain that park in the future. So, it's a consideration certainly.
Um, you know, usually the maintenance money is a fraction of what the capital expense is to do it in the first place, but it is a consideration. Um, for sure. Um, and and the reason that was put in place by the legislature is, you know, I'll be very honest, most cities and towns in the Commonwealth are not very good at maintenance.
There just isn't enough money to maintain your assets. Um, it's very hard. And so the legislature was very cognizant of the fact that if CPA was open to maintenance, we'd have that supplanting. You know, the money would just flow to all of that and we'd have no money available for new capital improvements.
So that's the reason it was set up very consciously that way. Thank you much. Thank you very much, Council. Um, councelor Ryan. Thank you, Madam President. Uh Stuart, recently we had to approve some CPA funds to do some maintenance on the Dorothy Adams Homestead.
Now, the Dorothy Adams Homestead is a DCR property. Has there ever been any uh instances in which the DCR reimbures the CPA fund for those um costs? Yep. Um so hopefully it was rehabilitation of that homestead and not maintenance.
Yeah. Um but yeah, we've seen a lot of CPA funds spent on DCR money, uh DCR property. You know, um the state's not in great financial shape either. Um and DCR's proposed budget for next year is a big cut from this year's budget.
Um there's a statewide advocacy group working to raise that. Um but they have a ton of assets in all these communities that they cannot properly um take care of themselves. So, we've seen Hull has used a lot of CPA money on DCR property.
Um, the the carousel that's in Hull. Um, there's a a park up on the Heights in Hull that has had CPA money. Medford has used CPA money on the Fels Park. Um, so we've seen a lot of combined projects. DCR actually owns a ton of historic properties.
Um and um a lot of them are in tremendous disrepair and they're you know they're in a particular community and it impacts that community much more when a DCR property is in disrepair and so you know unfortunately um uh you know we do see that happen.
Um but that's what CPA is there for is to improve your community. You know as you can tell by the fact that municipal assets are available for fun funding and private assets are available for funding.
CPA doesn't really care about who owns the property. Um, it's about can this be a better asset for our community in our community. And so most communities, you know, some really bristle at the fact of, you know, putting money into estate property.
Um, but usually these are pretty spectacular properties that would really benefit from it. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Does anybody else have any questions? Okay. Council Deon. Thank you, Madam President. Uh, thank you for your presentation here tonight.
Um, you know, looking back on prior to Councelor Riley being on the CPC, um, for 10 years, when I first got on in 2015, uh, I know there was less communities that were in the pot. Um, notably in 2016 in November, Boston came on and I remember the next couple years went down.
I says, "Where's our pot? It's getting less and less. Can you explain a little bit about how more communities come on? um how the pot is set up and the funding cuz before it used to be almost a matching um component.
It's almost like 50/50. You said 16%. Did you is that what you said? Last year was I think 16.9%. So that's a lot less. Yeah. I remember back in 15 when I first got on there Boston had not passed and when they came on the next few years I says wow this is even less.
So, can you explain a little bit how I know I I'm around 160 communities were on back um of the 351. Now, it's at 2011, right? Um 57% of the municipalities and over the last few years it goes to the ballot box and people most likely these towns are approving this.
Can you can you talk a little bit about the matching component compared to off the line of um registry of deeds? Right. So um as councelor Deabona mentioned um the trust fund is uh funded by collections at the registry of deeds.
So there are two things that affect how much the trust fund is going to have in uh be able to pay out. The first is the collections at the registry the revenue side and the second thing is the number of communities in CPA the expense side right believe it or not the revenue side has a much bigger impact on how much of is available to pay out.
And if any of you know the current real estate market, there are CPA gets a flat fee on every transaction. If there aren't a lot of homes sold, if there isn't a lot of refinancing, if there's not a lot of real estate activity, there's not going to be a lot a lot of CPA revenue.
And as you know, right now, that's the situation we're in. Um the real estate market is really very very frozen. Um interest rates are still pretty high. So, um, back when interest rates are low, people were refinancing all the time.
Um, you know, in the early years of CPA, the reason why the money was so large was, yes, there were fewer communities, but it was also a time when interest rates were just plummeting. And I don't know if you remember some years like 2004, 5, 6, people would refinance in January.
The rates would drop two points. They'd refinance again in July, it would drop another point, and they'd refinance again December. All those refinancings generated tremendous revenue for the trust fund.
Very little refinancing now. And the same thing about transactions too. Um far fewer transactions at the registry than the beginning of of CPA. So that um when I took this job in 2006, I had lots of hair on my head.
That is the issue that has kept me um up at night is how do we uh get the trust fund um gooseed up a little bit? And we've had two big successes at the legislature. The first was in 2012, that legislation I mentioned, that included a provision that if the state um had a surplus at their option, they could put some of the state surplus into CPA.
That's happened, I think, seven or eight times to a total of about $110 million that have gone into the trust fund um from extra contributions by the state. Um, the other big thing was when CPA was first passed, that fee at the registry was $25 per document.
We, nothing the state does is ever index to inflation. Um, that's just not the way things happen. CPA was not indexed to inflation. So, come 2015,617, it was still $25 a document. We had already lost about $9 of that $20 fee to inflation.
So, we worked for 7 years um on Beacon Hill from 2012 when we got the surplus money to 2019 to get the legislature to look at that fee and they doubled it. Um more than doubled it. It went from 20 to $50.
Um if you look back at 2020's match 2122 in that range, you'll see it went took a big jump, but then the real estate market, you know, kept going down. So now we're at a little bit of an of an Eb. Um I I we would love to see a 30% match to us.
That's a nice solid contribution that will really help communities out and get a lot of projects done. CPA is probably too big for you know anything larger than that at this point. Um but you know there's two ways to look at this counselor.
One is a 17% match in one year. I would love to have a 17% match on my 403b or my 401k. um or my Roth. Uh that's a pretty good return for one year's time um with no risk or investment. I don't have any money at risk.
You know, you don't have any money at risk for that. Um on the other hand, it used to be much higher. And so that's the glass half empty way to look at it. Um so, um our legislator legislative director is here listening tonight for ideas for things we're doing need to do at the state house.
So, I'm glad you brought that up, but it's on our radar for sure. and we plan to file a bill in January with a bunch of changes to CPA that communities have requested. And every program needs a little nipping and tucking and updating over time and addressing that fee is one of the big things that will be in that um legislation we um ask the legislature to file in January.
So, more to come and stay tuned on that. Um we'll need your help though. you know, we'll need the mayor and the and the council to really get behind it and talk to their legislators and hopefully we can um get that fee adjusted again for inflation and um uh bring the trust fund a little higher.
I appreciate you coming in because what you did tonight here is you gave a non-biased approach and opinion to the council um just just provided from your coalition. I still get your emails. So, thank you.
I appreciate your time. Thank you. Hey, happy to do it. Thank you. So, at this point, is there any other questions? All right. So, I'm just going to make one statement because uh it's 2006 and the team of advocates that were out getting those signatures, I just want to say thank you to Steve Pertios and I met Steve Pertios and Jay Davis who's on your committee on the on the CPA committees in his kitchen about the CPA.
So, that's going back some time, Jay, but I just was kind of thinking about that how Jay Steve was trying to sell me on making sure I was getting signatures at the same time. But um Steve Parios was the real was oneman show trying to get those signatures and he did a great job and it's been a lot of great projects in Quincy because of him.
So and it sounds like you joined at the same time too. So I thank you very much for your presentation. It was very informative and it was great to meet you. Great. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
And if you have any follow-up questions, we're we're here to help. So thanks. Okay. So, we're So, now we're moving on to um Madam Chair. Yep. Number three, 2026 062, an appropriation for $554,3501 for community preservation project close out.
Councelor Riley. Thank you, President Mahoney. So, this is a perfect uh opportunity to review this list with the wonderful presentation we had. This is a list of CPA projects that the auditor Susan O' Conor put together along with Miss Oul and brought to the committee in April um our April 9th meeting.
We reviewed the list of open projects and made a motion to close out any project that was 5 years or more old that had no incumbrances, meaning the purchase order was closed. Um the regulations required that project funds be used within three years, but we were a little conservative for this initial cleanup.
We we we left the four-year ones out there. Um there'll be another list coming to us hopefully for our next council meeting to close out the remaining projects once those POS are closed, which again I know Miss Otul is working on diligently um with municipal finance.
Um I'll note that the last time that this was done was in 2011. So that's why this list is so extensive and uh I don't think we'll let it go this long going forward. Um hopefully we'll have an annual review.
I do have one amendment to this order um on 2018-078 the Clifford Marshall October classroom for $2,631.65. Um that item actually belongs on the next round um because there is a PO outstanding. So we'll need to close that out.
So that means that um this will reduce the total amount being voted on tonight to return to the CPA to 551,7186 if I've done my math properly. Um I'd like to also note that any funds that were originally allocated to the affordable housing reserve are returned to the affordable housing bucket.
All the other monies returned to the CPA um to the unreserved account, meaning they are available for reallocation to f future projects in either the historical, open space, or recreation categories. Um so with that, I'd like to make a motion that we approve this appropriation 2026-062 as amended and open it up for discussion if the counselors have any questions or comments.
Okay, so we have a motion on that. Do we have a second before we go on to questions? Second by council deona and council unre don't know how to fix this. How do I do it? Do I just present? Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. Madame present through you to councelor deona. So at the last city council meeting you mentioned the all the community preservation project is a three years cycle. So any money remained in that project will be retained to the in reserved account.
Is that correct? I'd like to I'd like to I'd like to probably defer this to the administrator which is here tonight um to better or or Mr. Walker. Um the reason I ask you because you just said that you have sitting on the community preservation uh committee preservation for 10 years that's why I'm asking you so have you aware like all those project a lot of already more than 10 years it is still scattered it's up to the committee to make that decision the committee makes a decision are you aware of for 10 years.
It has been going on a little bit. We've talked about it every meeting, every year. Um I see members over there that have been on the committee ever since the inception. Uh one person in particular. Um it's depends on the committee.
Okay. I CPC committee. It It's usually three years, but it's a CPC's um Yeah. I'm just asking are you aware those monies still sitting idle there for some of them? Yes. We've gone through them every meeting.
Um after we do our approvals of everything we do that particular year, we go through these items over the years. And um we've had three different administrators over the years since I've been there. So Karen's been in probably for about I'd say four or five years.
Prior to that, we had two other administrators which were basically directors at the time. So each one has gone through their little time. So, it's up to the committee. It's up to the CPC to make that decision.
Okay. On that, council, and the first close out wasn't done till FY 2012, the inception of 2007. So, here we are tonight. And I I commend Council Riley for bringing this to the city council. Council Yan.
Um, I think he's I think he answered the question. So, we have a motion on the table, second by Council Diploma. We ready to move this motion to a vote? Okay, madam. Councelor Ash, yes. Council Deborn, yes.
Council Hubley, yes. Council Jacobs, yes. Council McKe, yes. Council Riley, yes. Council Ryan, yes. Council Yen, yes. President Mahoney, yes. Nine members. Okay, moving on to the next item. Number four, 2026 048, a resolve requesting a comprehensive financial and debt overview prior to the FY27 budget deliberations.
So I um this is a resolve that I put in place for um this evening and I'm not sure who's going to be kicking this off. Um Mr. Delar, Mr. Delibar will be kicking this off. I will say that we have a lot of material.
I'm hoping that we're not going to go page by page because this is a very large document. So, thank you. Sorry about that. I didn't have it on. I'm trying to find my presentation. No, I have it. Yeah, that's what I was I have it.
So, looks like we're having some technical difficulties. I think this is double the size of um the the CPC. A lot of good graphs. I already read it. Chris, do you have Stewart's phone number? Stewart's phone number.
Okay. just go off the hard copies. Okay. So, just going to go off the hard copies for now because we're having some technical difficulties. So, the floor is yours. We've lost half the people. We must have the Is there anybody on top?
Yeah, a couple of counselors are getting water. Okay. Yeah, you can start. We have the majority. All right. Sorry about the technical uh difficulties with the presentations, but uh I believe each one of you has a complete deck of all the slides that um that municipal finance produced.
And in an effort to uh be a little bit more efficient, we're going to condense the the presentation um in the amount of slides that we will be talking about this evening. So in your hard copies of this deck, um we'll be able to reference for instance um the next slide we would be talking about would be on page 11 of of the deck that you have in your hands.
Um so with that said, uh municipal finance is here this evening to talk about um to give a debt overview for the city of Quinsey. Um, we're partnered. We're here with our strategic partners, uh, who will be available to answer some of your questions, and I'm sure you have some good technical questions about our debt portfolio.
Um, those strategic partners include Rick Manley from Trout Pepper and Lock. He's our bond council, our financial advisors, uh, Cinta Mcinary and Lisa Driscoll from Hilltop Securities. And we also have Mario Mazano from RmIrez & Company along with Brad Friedman.
Uh giving the presentation will be Rick Kosher, our uh capital asset manager, municipal finance, and he'll be assisted by uh David Ryan, our associate asset manager. And with that, I'll turn the floor over to uh Rick Kosher.
Good evening, counselors. How are you? And I promise, Madam President, I will not go through every page. So, I read it all. Clock's going. Okay. So, I'm going to start uh well, thank you for the opportunity to to speak with you tonight.
So, as uh as Miss Delaba mentioned, we're going to go through um an overview of the debt portfolio. Um so, turn to the table of contents real quickly. Um the first first section we'll talk about is just the debt service by category.
what's the makeup? Um, we'll talk a little bit about the debt ratio. Then we'll go into kind of the each category or segment of debt. We have the pension obligation bond, district improvement financing, as well as general debt in the end.
So, let's start at debt service by category. So, this is page 10 in your in your larger presentation. Um, so this is Quizy's debt portfolio and the bet debt portfolio is comprised of three major segments.
It's the general debt, the pension obligation bond or the POB I'll call it for the for the uh duration of the presentation and the uh district improving financing debt diff. Um this these segments are further broken out into two type major types of bonding vehicles.
You have the long-term gen general obligation bond. Those are permanently financed where you you're paying principal and interest and short-term bond anticipation notes or bands where you are paying interest only for the first several years of the of the project.
So, of the total $1.3 billion, uh, it's in the category of long-term debt and $58 million is in short-term notes. Now, the majority of these notes, excuse me, go to fund the the diff portfolio. That's $326 million, which is a self-funded uh program through revenue generated from the downtown redevelopment.
Um, the short-term debt, the $58 million is in the form of bands, as I mentioned, it allow and what the the bands allow us to do, as I alluded to earlier, is it allows the city to pay interest only on the bonds in the early years of the of the project life cycle and typically have a two-year maturity, except, and this is a this is a a major component, except on the district improvement financing uh program, th those we can take out for 10-year maturities.
Um, so if you look at the short-term notes, 64% of the short-term notes are in, as I mentioned, in the DITF program. 36% uh are in the general obligation uh bonds. Those are schools, public safety buildings, etc.
On the long-term debt portfolio, that's principal and interest. 56% of that is goes through uh general obligation, which is funds for schools, CPA project, as the gentleman mentioned earlier. Uh there's about $50 million in CPA uh bonding that we've done over the years.
Um, and 41% goes to the pension obligation bond. 3% is permanently financed in the diff. Right now, that's about $40 million. So, if you change, if you turn to uh page 11, um, this slide shows the current schedule for debt payments.
It's broken down by those three segments I mentioned earlier. The pension obligation bond is in gray, the general debt is in blue, and diff is in yellow. Uh and as you can see uh the pension obligation bond makes up a significant portion of the overall debt debt service.
And to reiterate this this liability the pension obligation unfunded liability um was a liability that the city was already paying each year. What we basically did by issuing the bond was we just took a growing compounding liability and permanently finance it at a lower cost.
And we'll talk a little bit more about it as we get into the the the pension obligation bond section. Now not shown full disclosure not shown on this chart are the outstanding district improving financing bans.
Now this is because the city has taken advantage of special legislation allowing us to issue interestonly bans for a maximum of 10 years. Uh so this legislation gives us extreme flexibility on scheduling the permanent financing of diff debt in order to match revenue uh the revenue that's coming in the revenue streams andor take advantage of interest rates as they may as they may go down uh in in the subsequent year.
So, we're able to kind of modify when we're going to take those out. Um, now it's important to note that we proactively manage the debt portfolio and we do it in a way that we are in daily contact with our financial adviserss, our bond council, our underwriters, our economic development team at RKG and we we we work with them on a daily basis to strategize on the best ways to efficiently restructure the debt and ultimately to retire it.
page 12 in your in your presentation. Now, this shows the average age. This is an important slide. It shows the average age and useful life of all of the city's capital assets like schools, buildings, and infrastructure, uh, roads, sidewalks.
What this shows you is that the average age and useful life um, is significantly better relative to our competitors. We has a the average age of our assets is nine years. The useful life is 28 years. So basically what's that saying is we have invested early on in these assets to ensure that these are these are usable for a longer period of time.
Now this is a criteria S&P looks at very closely. Um how are you maintaining your capital assets because if they know that if you haven't been investing it there will be a time when you're going to have to pour a lot of assets into that and you have to have the the resources to do so.
Now, the chart breaks out the comparison by by other similar S&P rated cities as well as general surrounding Massachusetts communities. Now, I don't know if you can see it, but just to kind of break it down even further, the blue bar shows the average age of the assets, which you know, ours a younger, while the golden bar shows the useful life, which is a longer tenure.
Um, so the mayor has made the proactive decision, as I as I alluded to, to make these updates now in order to put the city in a stronger position to support future growth. Um, this is an important slide because it shows that by comparison, our assets will be in place longer for a longer period of time, reducing the need to borrow to maintain them.
It definitely gives us a competitive edge. Page 13. So, we talked a little bit about what's on the the debt schedule. Let's talk a little bit what's coming off the debt schedule, right? Um, you know, through 2034, the city will be retiring approximately $145 million worth of project debt.
Some of those major projects you may you may remember is the energy efficient bond that's about $23 million that's coming off. That's the old Honeywell project. Uh Hancock Adams Green that's $13 million that'll be coming off.
Concincaid Park that's $5.3 million. Seaw wall improvements another $5 million. So the city also took advantage of historically low interest rates the historically low interest rate environment 2021 to 2022 to refund and refinance outstanding debt creating longerterm savings.
Now, it's a point we really this is a point we really want to stress. We are always monitoring this metric to ensure debt service doesn't spike. Being able to efficiently retire or refund debt creates more flexibility for the budget.
Go to that next section which is the debt ratio. Now, this has been a chart that I know has been talking about frequently. uh it's a point of concern that has been brought up and uh by the raw numbers you know you're right they do appear high you know when taken in context you can see that where we are in the where we are at the highest bar in the debt to budget chart we are also one of the lowest in terms of pension contribution that's a chart on the right that's um on the left you have we have we're at 15% um but we look at when you look at our pension contribution it's 2% when the average is 7.1 1.8% 8%.
Now, this is because the city chose to manage this liability while other communities are now stuck paying compounding annual lump sums in the tens of millions of millions of dollars. In some places, it's up to 12% of their budget and growing.
Page 16. Um, when you combine those two things, debt and pension as a percentage of our levy, that puts us in the average range. But 21 20 21% is the average. We're right there. Um, you know, we like to look at the maximum levy because we believe it paints a more realistic picture as opposed to just the budget.
Now, page 17 I'll this will give you give you a little bit more explanation. You know, why max levy is a better indicator for measuring debt ratio. You know, Quinsey receives receives a significantly less state aid than other surrounding communities.
Quinsey receives approximately 16%. While the average is about 30%. Using budget as the denominator in this ratio, the debt service comparison artificially inflates the budgets of communities that receive larger portions of their budget through state aid and therefore appear to have a lower debt ratio.
Why is this an important point? On average, 75 to 85% of state aid received by communities is designated as chapter 70 and is only eligible to fund education related expenses. It cannot be used to for debt service and or capital improvements, page 18.
So what's been the product or outcome of the financial decisions that have been made thus far? New growth. A main reason for our ability to pay for many of these projects is because of the new growth the city has generated over the years.
While many communities are constrained by larger pension obligation contributions, limited growth or revenue resources to invest, the city has proactively addressed these liabilities and created capacity for investments in the new growth.
Getting into the pension obligation bond. Um before speaking specifically about the pension obligation bar, you know, it's tied to the retirement system. So I thought it made sense to give a little bit of background on the retirement system.
Um and so forgive me for reading to you, but the Quinsey's employees participates in a defined benefit plan. So under at Mass General Law Chapter 32, this provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits through a system overseen by a five member retirement board and regulated by Perak.
That's the pension uh regulatory body. Um members contribute the plan is funded through a mandatory employee contribution of 9% of salaries plus 2% on earnings above $30,000 credited to each member's annuity savings account.
So members are paying into their own retirement fund um their own retirement annuity. The city contribution. The city contribute contributes annually based on actual funding schedule while the goal of achieving full funding by 2040 by 2040 is accordance with the state law page 22.
As I mentioned earlier, it's important to reiterate the pension cost was already in our budget every year. It was being it was being paid for, but it was growing at a compounding rate. the unfunded liability kept compounding each year.
So what we basically did is we swapped it swapped out a higher cost compounding liability, converted it to a predictable lowerc cost debt payment. To put it another way, one of my colleagues had a had a great way of saying it was that prior to issuing the bomb, the pension liability was managing us.
Now we're actively managing that liability because it was already there as an obligation. We're paying each year was not it does not add to the bottom line. And so some background on that pension obligation bond for those who uh weren't here when we issued it.
What we did is we took $475 million in and we invested with Mass Prem uh one of the largest and most wellrespected pension fund managers in the US with over hundred billion in assets under management.
The projected overall savings over the term of that bond is approximately $168.5 million throughout the life of the bond. Now that that $168.5 million was at issuance. working with our actuaries, we've had updated numbers where they foresee that actually being closer to $200 million.
Now, markets are fluid. Um, you know, it's it's not static, but that's the range that we're still projected to save on issuing the bond. Starting in 2026, the PO pension obligation bonds debt service remains constant at $37 million by 2040 through 2040.
Without the pension obligation bond, the contribution from the city to the pension in 2026 alone would have been would have been $50 million and growing at 5.4% each year through 2040, capping off at overund million by 2040.
And you can see, you know, the POB was issued in a low rate environment. That's why um that's why it made sense. I mean, full disclosure, you know, pension obligation bonds only work when you're at historically low interest rates because then you have that margin that anything anything generated over that issuance cost helps to helps to lower the uh uh the funding level.
Um, and the chart up up top uh shows that we issued the bond at 2.63% total interest costs. And as you can see, right after that period, I know it's kind of small, but the Fed started, the Federal Reserve started increasing interest rates almost annually 20, page 24.
Um, this page basically shows what the what the results of issuing the bond did. The city now has a wellunded pension program in the mid to upper 90s. Um, and again, I think it's closer to 95 96% now.
I'm going to talk a little bit about the district improvement financing um program. So this is page I'm on page 27. So just to give you again for those who weren't around or don't have the background on the the diff.
Uh I'll give a little bit of short history. Under Mass General Law 4Q, the mayor worked closely with the city council to identify targeted investment areas where district improvement financing could be supported could support strategic economic growth and infrastructure upgrades.
Administration and officials presented the diff proposal to the city council outlining projected revenues, eligible improvements, and expected community benefits. Fiscal impact analysis and development projections were shared at each phase to demonstrate how diff revenues would fund public improvements without increasing the city's general tax burden.
A vote a vote of approval by the city council authorizes the diff program enabling the city to reinvest new taxes new tax revenues from the district and further infrastructure and economic development.
Kind of a Q&A here. Why use diff? Well, fund in it allows us to fund infrastructure without new taxes. It's flex. It's flexible and it's able to specialize in certain concentrated areas for commerce and for the over obviously the revitalization and growth of depressed areas.
Page 30 some of the I guess success stories or accomplishments from the diff. Uh you see it every day. You can see it many of these accomplishments when you walk down the street. Uh and it's not just the buildings and it's not just the structures that should be noted.
All the updating to the city's utilities and infrastructure laid in the groundwork laid the groundwork to make this possible. This is what you don't see. So as you can see, you know, some of the accomp accomplishments, Walter Hannon Parkway, uh Hancock Adams roadway realignment, um construction of General McConville's bridge and park, uh construction of the new most recent construction of the new parking garages.
So that's the public side. There's also been private development. The the diff has spurred private development. You know, this slide shows a few of the private development in the downtown. The reality of the new private development in the city of in the city of Quinsey is a result of what the city did on the public infrastructure side.
None of these private projects would have been possible without the work completed and is ongoing in the diff. And again, um you can all read here so I don't have to go through the list. you know, west of Chestnut, uh, Masonic Temple renovation, um, 111 Washington Street, office buildings.
These are just some of the success stories. Medical office building that's on McConville Way as well. Uh, Specialty Growth, I I guess we can say that now. Trader Joe's, right? Uh, the worstkept secret in the city.
Um, as well as as well as a this is a big one with my colleague here at Chipotle. So, uh, I'll expect a free lunch after this. Um, page 33, uh, diff tax revenues in downtown assessed value. You know, this basically shows this is, I guess, the the the, uh, the money slide for for the diff program.
The chart shows the effect of creating the diff. It shows exponential growth in tax revenues coming from the downtown and exponential value growth of the downtown. Uh, the downtown has gone from a being a depressed, underutilized area of the city to a vibrant commercial district.
This is why a program like DIFF exists. We already own the infrastructure. At some point, it was going to need to be replaced. DIFF was the catalyst and mechanism that created new revenue coming in from private investments to pay for those infrastructure improvements.
Next section is general debt. Um this slides provides some examples of the projects funded through just our general general obligation debt. schools, roads, um sidewalks. Uh since 2010, the city has completed four major school construction modernization projects with a fifth currently underway.
This represents a significant investment in educational infrastructure. Unlike the diff and the and the pension obligation borrowing, these projects were financed through a combination of local funding and state funding.
Some of the highlighted projects, Quinsey High School was done in 2010. Central Middle School 2014, Southwest Middle School 2019, and the D Christopher Learning Center, I believe the only municipally run special needs school in the in in the in the state, and as well as Squanum Elementary School, which you all know is currently under underway.
Next page. Reducing cost through lo local, state and federal support. You know, bonding is only one source used to fund important projects. Many of the projects from the previous page have out have outside revenue sources revenue sources.
So they are not entirely bored by and raised by appropriation budget. Every year, the city has partnered with the Massachusetts School Business Authority, the MSBA, to secure major reimbursements and grants for four new schools construction, significantly reducing local project costs.
Um, and just as an example, as you can see the numbers there for Quincsey High School, uh, Central Middle School, Sterling, Squan, and Christopher File, the city has saved approximately $192 million on school projects using state and federal grant money.
There's also part of this debt that is funded by the community preservation act and the hotel motel tax. infrastructure improvements. Again, this is not a lot of the sexy projects that you see out there, but this is the stuff.
These are the investments and improvements that you don't necessarily see, but are crucial to supporting all the new growth. Um $100 million invested in long long-term road and sidewalk maintenance and repair.
$40 million invested in repairs to replace outdated water and sewer. $12 million in roadway, sidewalk, traffic systems, horizontal infrastructure improvements, ongoing improve improvements to the city seaw wall, newly constructed public safety building, which is, as everyone knows, is open now, uh, and restoration and continued maintenance of parks and open space throughout the city.
So, this is the last page to our presentation. You know, as I think uh, Mr. Delibaba mentioned, we have a a good group in the in the municipal finance team. A lot of smart people up there, but none of this could get done if we could have been accomplished without our strategic partners who are here where some of them are here tonight.
We have Cinder Mcernney and Lisa Driscoll from Hilltop Securities, Rick Manley and Michael, well, I don't know if Michael's here, but uh from Topman Pepper Lock, our bond council, who is uh integral and invaluable in uh when we go to market, Mario Masano and Brad Friedman from Mayor Company, our underwriters who help us sell the bonds when we do go to market.
Um and we had we had our we we weren't able to have our associates from RKG uh here but they help us and do the modeling uh so that we can track the revenue uh relative to debt service on the diff. So that's all I had.
Team's happy to answer any questions. That was much faster than I thought. So um going to open up to the Is there any other presentation that we're doing or we ready to open it up to the counselors? Okay.
So we're going to open up to the counselors. Looks like that. Nobody has any questions. Councelor Vicki. So, um I wanted to there now I'm going to lose it, but on one of the slides there's a a little asterisk at the bottom.
Oh, sorry. One of the slides there's a little asterisk at the bottom that that seems like it's hiding a lot. It says, you know, this these this doesn't take into account $500 million, I think, in short-term debt.
Um, could you? Yes. Page page 11. Um, chart displays currently outstanding long-term bonds only. Does not project out future bond issues. The city currently has $58 million of a short-term notes outstanding that will need to be permanently financed over the next 10 years.
So I guess this is going to be quite a bit higher um when you take that into account. Yeah, the I I I mentioned that. So the majority of those notes about $330 million from the diff and so it really so we we have flexibility in how we want to do that.
We work very closely with with our financial adviserss because we can take out those notes 10 years. We may want to take them out early. We may want we want to let let them mature through 10 years. If we may restructure them earlier.
So to put them on the graph, it probably wouldn't be accurate to show it, you know, the debt cascading the way it did. So that's why we we left it off. I am not a finance person. So can you can you help me understand the um what you mean by like so we have 10 years right before the diff comes to an end right and that is that what is the 10 years that you're so use the maturity on those bonds on those right okay so we so if we take out the bonds um you're only paying interest on those bonds as you're waiting for those those businesses those those developments to come up and generate revenue.
You're able to push out the interest payments on those so that when you so that you can project when those by working with our our partners, you can project out what the revenue streams are going to be.
So you know at certain periods that the debt service can be covered by the revenue that is being generated by those by those developments. Point of information, just a point of information. When does the diff um so we have it pushed out?
Is 2037 when the when it's going to be all paid for that all the development has to be paid for or was there an extension? I'm going to Yeah, Mr. Manley, did you want to take that one? Who would be coming up?
Sorry. Okay. Did we have an extension for that? Okay, Rick's going to explain. Unless they want to go. Uh good evening. I'm Rick Manley from Troutman Pepper. I work as a bond counsel for the city. Um the um the uh maximum term for a a diff district is 30 years under chapter 40 Q of the general laws.
But that doesn't uh confine the issuance of bonds to uh you know having to relate in fact to the u maximum term of of the district itself. Once the bonds are issued in the if they're issued when there is a um a district in place, the bonds can be issued for up to 30 years.
Obviously, we have a special uh piece of special legislation that allows us to issue notes for 10 years which are interest only and then 30 years of bonds after that. And that's the case whether or not the city should decide to extend the diff.
See, having a different place allows you to do different kinds of projects. Um, and you might decide, oh, we'd like to extend it and do other things. Maybe you just don't need it anymore. Um, maybe you want to have one elsewhere in the city.
You can have, you know, many. Um, but, um, it doesn't really relate to the maximum maturity of bonds. I don't mean to interrupt you, but you just said you can have one, you can have many different diffs throughout the city.
Is that what you're saying? Or Yeah. Okay. So, but right now we're talking about the URDB diff in the downtown. Yes. Exactly. It's strictly related to the downtown. Correct. Precisely. So, we're not spending diff money any place else, just in the downtown.
I just want to make sure. Okay. Because you just said you could you could do it anywhere. I just wanted to make sure as a point of clarification because that's what I heard. You can use a diff anywhere.
You you certainly can establish other ones is all you have to establish that location that I think Somerville has four for example. I understand we don't have one currently URDP passed by the state legislature.
We're looking to have Wallist. Is that correct, Mr. Walker? Wallston is something that we're looking for, but I don't think it has been finally approved. I believe uh it has been approved at this point.
It has. Yes, it has been approved. Okay, great. You can go on. I just wanted to make sure that we were talking about this is strictly what we're talking about the diff in the downtown currently. I don't think we've taken any loans out in any other areas.
Exactly. Yes. So, so that's really the that's really the point. Once the bonds are issued and they go for the maximum term that they're allowed to have, that's the case whether or not the diff should be should expire or be extended.
It doesn't really affect the the diff expires. Correct. So the reason why I'm asking that is because the bill of goods that are being sold to the taxpayers and this is what we really want to try to explain to the taxpayers is the diff we we were under the 30 years and we've been investing in it since 2007 and we've been taking out loans.
I know that one of these pages we talked about that and we have $58 million of short-term loans out and in 2037 the diff should be self-funding and paid for itself. But if we're taking out loans that go past 2037, I'm not sure how it can be paying for itself.
Because if it doesn't pay for itself, then those loans, those bonds we take out go back into the general fund. That's how it's been explained to us for many years in this council chamber. Well, um I guess the point is the way it works today is no different than the way it would work in the future.
And that is to say you know what the new what the base revenue was coming uh was when you uh established the diff and you know what the new revenues are as values increase projects come online and so forth.
So you're still generating additional increment revenue. It's it's not been set aside per se. It's not there's not a syncing fund or anything. There can be funds like that set up when you do a diff financing.
Most communities haven't done that. In fact, I don't know of I know of only one that that has done that and and I've worked on probably a dozen. Uh most are just collecting the revenue. They keep score to see how they're doing.
Um and but that additional revenue is still coming in. So, you know, I I guess it's u you know, I I think it's somewhat academic whether the district itself is in place or not. you know that the new revenue is coming in and it's available for paying debt service.
Yes, I understand how bonds work. Um, so I'm going to pass this back to councelor McGee. I just wanted to make sure that we had that point of information for the $58,000. They do have 10 years they can use it for.
However, it does still add up to the 1 what we thought was $1.6 billion worth of debt. We really have $1.8 billion worth of debt when we add the two together. Um, when I came into the council back in last year, I thought it was 1.6 6.
Actually, when the resolve was created, we said 1.6, but long-term debt right here is $1.297 million of long-term debt services. And when you add the $58 million, whether you're putting it on now or in the future, that means the city of Quinsey currently is carrying $1.8 billion worth of debt.
I'll give that back. So, I'm going to open up to anybody else that could council key, would you like continue? Um I just I won't uh take too long, but um we have I guess quite I showed the graph last time that had you know Quinsey at the top of um debt and you've got that in here too.
Um compared to as a percentage of revenue for the 50 biggest cities um and that's because of the pension obligation bond. But I guess um when I was trying to learn a little bit more about this um there was a study that said you know it's a bit of a risky bet and maybe the reason why not that many communities are doing it is because of the risk.
So Mark Davidson at Clark University's at Clark University said um uh even when cheap low interest debt is available, the risks of pension obligation bonds to city finances are not insignificant and um that you know you're putting the money into the market which can be very volatile.
Um another town that did this um they mentioned Andover and Brockton. handover uh went through a whole process. It sounds like the town held 60 public information sessions about it and had an advisory committee with residents who are expert in relevant fields.
Um they also approved it at a special election. Um I guess I just I don't know that Quincy's done that kind of due diligence. Um, and it I guess it just concerns me that that we may be at a in a riskier place with a volatile market.
No, I'm happy to answer, but first off, I want to apologize because I think I did a poor job of explaining the the maturity of the 10-year bands where we could, as I think Rick did a better job of saying, the first 10 years are the short-term notes and then we could then we could bond it for 30 years.
So, I apologize for that. um you know issuing a pension all the money is always the in the retirement system the money is already in the market so you are you are exposed to market volatility absolutely and over time you know markets go up and market goes markets go down as I mentioned um pension obligation bonds have been I don't say controversial but there are pros and cons to it where they work is when you're when you're at very low in a very low interest rate environment Because pension systems have a a target rate, a target uh a target return that they're looking for.
Usually it's 7 7 and 12%. So if the if the interest rate is high, you know, five six 7% like it is now, your margin for error is error is very is very low, right? But when you issue it and we issued it at 2.63%.
So anything any return and over historically over time and this is a long-term investment, right? Right. I mean, just like any it's a pension system, so it's not a you're not going to be taking this money out next year.
It's going to be 17 15 years. Um, the return on that has averaged over 8 9%. Any return over that that interest cost helps the funding of that of that system. So, so you're right there there's a lot of articles that are there pros and cons, but you did see a lot more um activity, you know, when we did in 2020.
As a matter of fact, um, Springfield, which has an enormous unfunded liability, they were trying to doing it at the same time. They were actually we we completed ours at a certain period. They were actually asking us for consult to try to get it done because the interest rates increased so quickly, so high that it just made that window shut where that they were at 67%.
It just didn't make sense. But you're right, the the math on it is is you want that delta between what you're what you're issuing it at and what your target return is to be large. So So there's that much buffer for you to to basically go to your the funding level of of the of the system.
If that helps. And we lost was it 80 or 90 million the first year after taking this out. 2020 2020 there was a was 20 I'm sorry 2022 was a down year. then subsequent years have come back. I mean again yeah I mean if you look at if you look at your retirement fund or if you look at any investment in one year for one year you can have great years you can have bad years but the whole but you have to look at in the entirety and in the term of the bond and you're looking at 19 years.
So you know we're currently about 96% funded. So, and we're one of the highest funded pensions in the in the state. So, I'm going to move on to anybody else have any questions that we could add to conversation.
Councilor Hubley. Yes. Thank you, President Mahoney. Um, so you mentioned earlier when talking about the difference between bonding our pension obligation versus paying in like other communities over time, uh, that the money's already in the market.
So, to to councelor McKe's point, I think I'm trying to like dovetail into what you were asking. Um what do you what do you mean by that for the folks at home and also from Sure. I mean the retirement system as it is and I have I have a colleague who's on the retirement board as as well um those contributions the contributions from you know the money that's coming out of everyone's paycheck the contribution the city makes is invested in the system that system takes those assets invests them in investment assets um we we use Makita as our investment consultant so they're invested in US equities international equities, uh, emerging markets.
I mean, every system has a has a has a a risk budget as well. So, you know, you're not it's not all going in Bitcoin. It's going in sound assets. Um, but yeah, the the the system currently whether whether we had a bond, a pension obligation bond or not, you know, those assets are being invested, right?
So, so whether or not you're financing your obligation or you're paying in, what you're putting in or what you're financing are subject to the same market conditions, the same volatility, similar risk.
That's correct. Profile. That's correct. So, it's in a way a little bit of a distinction. That's the vehicle you are using. Yes. To become fully funded. So, it's distinction. Council McKe. No, Cas McGee is actually absolutely right.
Yeah. I mean, if you if you invest whether you have a pension obligation bond or not at the wrong time, it can create a pretty big hole. But by issu but you know it's it's a geometric return right. So if you're if you're investing at if you have a very very high deficit you know you've got $400 million that you the unfunded liability and the market goes down 20%.
That's a bigger hole you have to dig out of. Now we're at essentially at full we're at full funding. So if we have a 20% drop in the market yeah it's not great. No one likes it. But the ability to get back to fully funding over 17 years is a lot greater.
You know, has you have a lot a lot better chance if you fully fund it as having a $400 million hole and you've got 10 years to to make that up. And again, that it's a state it's a state law that that every system has to be fully funded by 2040, right?
So, it's not like we're just kind of putting money away because we so choose. We're required to do so. We can do so. It's a liability. You know S&P looks at, you know, I mentioned they look at they look at our capital assets, the life of our assets.
Are you investing in your capital infrastructure? They also look at your pension and your OPED system. Are you you have a massive liability here? You're going to have to take you're going have to take care of what are your plans to do it and they they rate you on that.
Yeah. And my my other question, thank you for that. My other question goes back to the diff. So I I I don't mean to, you know, roll back too far, but are there any of the assets that were or are there any of the investments done through the diff that aren't showing expected returns in terms of paying for them or underperforming, overperforming, anything?
Does that just forgive me if you just want to make sure? So I think what you're asking for are I think it's what Madame President was asking is is the revenue matching the debt matching. Better way to put it.
Yeah. So you know we are updating that. So the answer is yes it it is it is servicing the the debt. Um our our our partner strategic partners RKG is currently updating their models because every year every year you have to see what the new valuations are in the in in the model.
New parcels come on the the assessed value of each property goes out. So that's what you're looking at to see to see what revenue is being generated. But the answer to the question is yes. That's all for now.
Thank you. Does anybody else have any questions? Council. Um, Madame President, so I have a question. Um, page 10, could you? So, on the left, short-term depth 508 million and on the right, long-term depth 1.297 billion.
When you add together is over 1.8 billion. As President Mahoney said in the last year we talk about the city is $1.6 billion depth. That's already is massive depth. How come less than eight months become $1.8 billion debt?
What what's going on? I think I So long-term debt, permanently financed debt is $1.3 million. So we issued ban short-term notes. We didn't take on more debt. We issued bans. Even you issue band that has to has has to be paid back.
Even the short-term debt even now you only pay interest looks like affordable but uh you can't always just pay interest. At a certain point you have to convert it to long-term debt and at that time you have to pay both principle and the interest.
So I'm wondering instead of the depth going down because every year we pay so much depth, how come it increased jump from 1.6 billion to $1.8 billion depth just during this half a year? Yeah, I I'd have to look at your math.
I just um like I said, I'm not I'm not following your math. I'd be happy to sit down with you and go through it. I think it's very clear. Last year we talked about $1.6 6 billion depth combined short-term depth and the long-term depth.
Now you presented is actually $1.8 billion depth. So only half a year passed. I'm wondering how the depth increased so much. Yeah. Like I said, I mean of the of all the long-term debt that's currently financed, it's it's 1.297 $1.3 million.
The short-term debt is $326 million of the diff and the and the remaining is public safety building and Squanum Elementary School. Okay, maybe I can answer for you. So in fiscal year 2026, the total short-term depth is 300 $31 million short-term depth.
inside of it. Uh, DEF is $224 million and then in 2027 the shortened depth jumped to 508 million and uh 326 million uh defect. So just in one year the depth jump made a big jump. So I'm wondering if next year we'll be still in this trend the the dep keep jumping up or it will be paying down.
Okay. What? Yeah. Um I'm going to uh introduce our financial advisor uh Cinder Mcney. Um so maybe she can kind of help clarify. Hi. Uh, my name is Cinder Mcnney. I'm managing director of Hilltop Securities and I've worked as I've worked in the capacity of municipal adviser to the city of Quinsey for a number of decades at this point.
Worked through a lot of what the city's gone through over the last 30 40 years. Um, what is the confusion I think in what's being discussed in terms of the different amounts is whether or not a lot of times when you're looking at the amounts of debt outstanding, you're just talking about the principal amount of the bonds outstanding, not the principal plus the interest.
The principal plus the interest is equal to debt service. So, if you look at this chart up there, you're looking at debt service. Um, you're looking at debt service, principal, and interest as opposed to just looking at the principal.
So the this the city's got outstanding 800 and let's see what is it it's um 866 million of bond did principal of which uh 400 and some odd 50 million is pension obligation bond and only 29 million is diff only 29 million of DIFF bonds have been sold permanently to date.
the balance of that it's about 400 million is um other purpose permanent debt and then the city does have 58 and and the and so you're looking up there and you see that um long-term debt is a billion 297 that's the principle of that total I just gave the breakdown of 866 plus the interest on it on long-term debt and then there's $58 million of short-term notes outstanding 335 million of which are diff notes and the balance are other purpose notes non-def and I I might just add because I feel as if um you know the way the rating agencies look at your outstanding debt they view the pension obligation bond as over the life of that issue which it advertises through the year 20 240 that you on paper will save $165 million in cost versus if you am advertised it as you go, pay as you go.
And the reason is because you borrowed that debt at under 3% and you can turn around the assumed rate of return on your investments is 7% or something like that. And that differential over time, it's assumed you will earn that differential or why are you assuming it to begin with will result in $160 million of savings for the city?
and that's between now and 2040 in terms of the budget process. Um, so that is re that's p and we worked on the Andover pub and we worked on the multiple Brockton pubs. We're in the middle of another pub with them.
There's a number of pubs in the works right now. They're very complicated and they take a long time to put it together and um and you know by the time it amortizes the bond pays off. you see whether or not you know it is a risk but it's a calculated risk uh that and your assumption is you're going to earn 7% on your assets.
If you earn 7% on your assets over the term between now and 2040 then you will have um you will have realized a savings over paying as you go and not issuing ps of $160 million. So that's and on the diff debt, the diff debt can be structured.
The reason chapter 4Q allows you to have any kind of structure you want once you set once you structure the debt. The city's looking at something that's that's that's um normal amortization schedule, but after it issues 10 years of bans that it would sell 30 years of bonds.
The bans have been issued. Like I said, there's only been $29 million of DI bonds sold to date because originally there was $29 million of notes sold. And then as more notes got sold, they're all have a different original dated date.
And they all have a different 10-year anniversary date. On the 10-year anniversary date of each section of bands that are currently outstanding that make up the 335 million that's part of the 508 million, they will then be advertised for a 30-year period.
Unless they're advertised sooner because if interest rates drop back down to let's say 2% there might be the the desire if the city can if the revenues are there from the diff district to accelerate some of that debt at some point in the future.
But that debt is going to be rolling on over the next, you know, I think between now and and uh in the next 10 years because different amounts of that 335 million of diff bans was issued from year to year as the diff development was taking place and then it's going to get amortized um after it's 10 years old.
So in the first 10 years of each trunch of the of the bands that make up the 335 of the 508 on each anniversary um the 10-year anniversary one section of the diff will get permanently financed and then another will get permanently financed.
And there is a there is a plan. You know, the city's looking very closely at the revenue that's going to spill off of the development inside the diff district over the next over the next 30 years to pay back the debt.
The rating agencies have viewed both the pens and obligation bond as they understand it's a calculated risk. They don't view it negatively. They don't view it it hasn't uh one of the requirements to do it is that it's not going to compromise the rating.
and they look at the diff as the diff they assume will be self-supporting as it goes forward and all this that gets rolls into permanent financing. So that I think explains why you uh council you're looking at and you're seeing different numbers than what has already been expressed.
It's a difference between just principal versus principal plus interest. Principal plus interest is debt service. And you can see those those charts are debt service, but some of the other charts have just been showing principal um and the amortization of the principal.
So, you know, it's just important to see to know what you're looking at. Anyway, I still have a question. Oh, uh, excuse me. Question. Oh. So, so now for the short-term adapter, we we only pay interest.
We haven't get a touch to pay principal, right? You're not paying principal until you're 11. You're paying interest annually. You roll the notes over annually. So, you borrow the notes. They only they're short-term notes.
They last for a year. and you at the year anniversary you pay interest then you roll the principal again and at a different rate and you at the end of that year you pay interest again so the city's the city is budgeting the interest payments due on all of the short-term notes I understand that but when you start to pay principal and the interest I mean principal and interest when when you convert it to the long-term debt you have to pay principal and the interest that's will We add a lot of payment in the budget.
That's where there will that's that's true and that's where on each piece. So it's it's not all going to get issued at the same time. It's going to be issued as it got issued in the first place to develop the projects in the diff that were going to generate more in more um revenue over time.
The the reason with um the diff legislation allows the this kind of flexibility because it's it allows the development to get accomplished with diff financing and then when the projects are developed and they're generating revenue, you can then mirror the debt to be supported by the revenue.
And that's exactly how the debt will get structured to be supported with the revenue. Yeah. At starting at year 10 with different parts of what's already been issued once a year for the projects that were ongoing.
I I understand that. My question is this all makes sense only when the revenue generated big enough to cover the depth you the debt you well one of the things I mean one of the things I mean I mean the diff legislation allows any bond structure so you could you could have ascending debt if you need to you could have ascending debt starting in year 11 that's how I mean that's that's how certain debt is structured anyway so you kind of just kick the can down the road.
So you don't pay you don't pay principal now. You just pay the interest. Correct. And then later when you still couldn't pay principle in the interest, you just restructure it. It's the same thing as what's being promoted by the governor's office, which is to allow 40-year debt for school construction.
This is essentially 40-year debt for the different pieces of the diff district that are being developed that are being where the infrastructure is being being um performed in order to create the revenue to support the cost of the infrastructure.
It's a complete redevelopment of the downtown. Okay. But uh now uh the DEF already started from 2005 now already 2024. through the trend. I would like to see how much revenue have generated and according to this trend I want to see the projection of when the div end at 2037 if the revenue generated can pay back the depth.
So I would like to ask just one quick comment about it start you created the diff in 2005 but you didn't start financing the diff that the $29 million of debt that's currently outstanding part of the long-term debt picture that wasn't issued until uh I think it was permanently financed till 2017.
So it was only $29 million of debt that was issued between 2005 and 2017 and then it got permanently financed in 2017. That was the first issue of DIFF debt. So and it was only 29 million. So the diff got off to a slow let's say a long slow start before it was any infrastructure was being spent and before any revenue was generated.
So you're just now in the in the thick of the diff development project. So after 2037 all the DAP haven't been paid back will shift to general fund. All the revenue generated after 2037 will shift to general fund.
After DEF end at 2037, all the all the revenue generated in DEF will will move to general fund and all the depth for paid for DEF also will transfer to general fund. Is that correct? All the revenue is in the general fund.
Pardon? All of the revenue is in the general fund. I thought that it's a separate def revenue. That's what Rick Manley was explaining. It can be in it can be in two places. It could be separated or it could be lumped in with the general fund revenue.
So currently the revenue generated in div is reinvested in the in div or already put put into the general fund. So as I know yeah that's what yeah and that's allowed by law. That's one of the options and that's the option and that's an option that I think all but maybe one of the diffs in Massachusetts is using there's no diff in Massachusetts of this magnitude.
This is an ambitious program. I'm being asked for a point of order from councelor McKe. Did you want to say something? No, I just had a question. Okay. Will you have one? I have one more question. So on pages 33 Well, Council Leon, I just would like to clarify one thing.
Uh, there was a time when the DIFF revenue was coming in and going into the DIFF syncing fund. I believe it was up until like 2022. Um but at some point, you know, the city decided that those revenues were going to come in and go through the general fund.
And according to our bond council, we're doing it the exact, you know, perfect way. Um according to the way the law is ridding, we don't have to exclude and have the diffing fund. We can have those revenues come right into the general fund.
And that way they're those revenues are still supporting the debt service that is for those um on those bonds in the diff district through that revenue. Okay. So on page 33 you only list the physical year 2007 2009 then jump to 2023 and 2024.
What's in between 2009 and 2023 and what's the physical year 2025 the revenue generated from DEF? Yeah, I mean so that's the data that was available from our from our business development team. Um we're actually looking to get the most recent numbers.
We should have them fairly soon for 2026. But you know the the data is run off the most recent valuation of the of the properties and the and the um and the and the parcels. So but we will have the most recent data I would say over the next month or so.
Do you have a general idea of the fiscal year 2025 of a general idea? Yeah. About how how much revenue generated in physical year 2025 already passed the 2025. Um we can get that for you. We can get that for you.
Okay. My next question is 2023 you generate around six million $6 million revenue. 2024 around8 million dollar and from this trend you think the revenue generated in div can really pay back all the debt borrowed for for the debt service.
Yeah. Yes. That's what that's what we're modeling and that's what has the model has shown thus far and again that's why we update it all the time to ensure that happens. So you don't have a projection of the revenue will be generated in div.
No we do we the projections are coming. I said the to to get you a clear picture of the projections revenue to debt service we have to go through this the model exercise and that's what we will be what we'll be calculating.
Okay. I'm just interested when can we get that projection? Yeah, we will get it over uh probably over the next several weeks. We we we were in discussions with them today. We actually were going to have members of RKG here today.
They couldn't make it, but they're very close to kind of finalizing and kind of polishing the model to so that we could show you. We were hoping to have to be honest with you, we were hoping to have a slide in this in deck, but it just you know it wasn't it wasn't complete yet.
But we will absolutely show that to you. So you said in couple weeks because we want to know that in the budget. Understood. You made you've made that perfectly clear. Okay. All right. Anybody else? Council councelor Riley.
Yeah. I had a couple of questions. Rick, could you just clarify? You said that the um the I I get the pension obligation bond. get that you, you know, nailed the market in terms of realizing a really great interest rate, but you said that the money would have been in the market anyways, but the unfunded pension obligation until it was bonded was not in the market.
It was a liability. That's your Exactly. That's your liability. Correct. So once we once we took on that pension, the the bond debt and we put that money into the market and then the market tanked, it took a while to recover those those losses.
So had that money not been in the market and it just remained a liability, we wouldn't I mean that was those were real losses that were realized. Yeah. No, you make a great point. The liability would even been been larger.
The liability would have been larger because it's it's compounding, right? So you you you have to you have to reach a certain if you don't reach the return that that amount is actually compounded. It's it's it's like interest on your credit card.
It'll get larger. it like the unfunded liability. I think what you're saying is the unfunded liability would have stayed static. It wouldn't would have No, I'm I'm not saying it would have stayed static.
But what I'm saying is that money was not in the market. That money would not have experienced that that dramatic loss in that period of time. That that was your loss. Yeah, that's that was your loss.
Well, un unlike the the um employee or the employee portion was in the market. That that's what I heard you say earlier. The employee person portion was in the market. So, there would have been a loss there regardless.
We all saw losses during that time period. I'm getting I'm getting the sense my my colleague wants to say so. Mario Masano, go ahead. Hi, I'm Mario Marso, managing director of Ramirez. Um, thank you Marty.
The losses that you're mentioning are unrealized losses because they're not they're not taken out of the market. It's just the same thing as you get a statement on a monthly basis what that shows you at times the markets are up, the markets are down.
But if you're in the market and you're staying in the market, you're not taking the loss. It's not a a realized loss. I I I respect that. Um but when you initially invest a large amount of money and see a dramatic drop in that value right away, that's a you're right.
They didn't take it out. They didn't they didn't panic and take it out. But the value of the bonds, right, the value of what was bonded was suddenly worth a lot less because the money was taken from the bonds, invested in the market, and then the market tank.
So there was there what I'm saying is there was a recovery period there before that money was back in whole to what the bonding amount was. Yes. And it's above and beyond now. Now it is. Yes. returns in the market much higher like I still go back to to to the amount of savings that the city I understand the believe me I understand that over the long term it was it was the right thing to do.
Um so that I just wanted to clarify that point though that that it was there was a a dramatic loss that that meant it took some time for the benefit to be realized. I I think he I think he he explained it well is that it's an unrealized it's you realize that loss if you wouldn't do this obviously, but if you were to take all that money out of the pension, yes, your value is whatever that loss was factored in, right?
Okay. Um and and just to clarify, we w we're not fully funded because we do continue to have some obligation due to the pension system. Correct. Yeah. maybe thought that it was going to get us through till 20 240 or whatever the date is, but um the reality is it's all based on projections and models and you know people make more money, they retire earlier, whatever the case may be.
We're you know we're we're not and you're also it was fully funded based on projections at that time but we have found ourselves having to pay an obligation into the pension system every year. Yeah. Yeah.
The normal cost. So you council, you could be 101 102% funded and you're still going to have a contribution to be made because active active employees are generating benefits, right? So every year you're still having to pay pay that out in dispersements.
Understood. Yeah. Um and then on the short versus long term, we all seem to be really honing in on this um this chart. So, the general 36% is about 180 million or so. Um, and you said that's typically a two-year interestonly payment.
So, this is on page 10, that chart. So, and I think maybe somebody might have asked this question, but I I just want to make sure I understand. But that's not like one pot of money. That's an ongoing kind of correct.
Okay. And same with the with the diff the 10-year. So, that's 330 million different maturities. Yeah. Absolutely. 10 year intereston payments but it's a revolving sort of line of I wouldn't call it revolving I would say different tanches yeah I mean I think saying the same right but it's not one it's not one correct so not all so they're not all going to mature in 10 years is right so do we have a chart though that shows how these are going to roll off and either and and have to they're going to have to be bonded long term right we actually do have a model again it's it's not a static model because I think as Mcney said that we you know we have flexibility in how you know when we wanted to.
We could take some out early, but we can absolutely show you when they mature. If we would if we were to hold every one of those tanches to its maturity, we can show you how that would cascade. We were going to actually include this in the in the presentation, but okay.
It's a lot of data. I'd be happy to sit down with you and show it. Yeah. And then the only other comment that I'll make is um you know, I think again hearing some of my colleagues concerns, I think I think the biggest concern is that all of this is based on projected revenue.
um modeling on the diff, right? On Yeah. On the diff. And so there's always a risk that we will not meet those projections 20, 30 years from now. You know, we're all long gone. And so I think that's a legitimate concern.
It's always going to be based on certain models, right? No, I mean, any type of investment is a calculated risk. You're absolutely right. Right. We're we're taking the calculated risk though on behalf of the next generation and the generation after that.
So I think that's that's a legitimate concern that I sort of heard from some of my colleagues. So thank you. Councelor Ryan Councelor Ryan. Thank you. Um Rick I just need just clarification on page 40 um with regards to your relationships and how the um bonding when you put Yes.
No. page 40 that are that's your strategic partners. Yes, this page right here. That's okay. I couldn't see it. That's the one. Sorry. All right. So, Hilltop Securities is your retirement your um financial advisor, right?
And you use these five different firms to uh do competitive um analysis for bonds. No. So, our and we we actually added some partners there that would don't necessarily work on the the issuance of bonds.
So, Hilltop Securities is our financial advisor. So, when we are contemplating issuing bonds, you know, we strategize on how how long we how long we want to go out, what the maturity is, if we want it to be level debt, if we want to be at ascending debt.
So, that that's that's their role. Ramirez is our underwriters, Mario Masano and Brad Friedman. So, when we've made the decision, when the council has authorized us to to go out and get that debt, Ramirez are they're the ones underwriting that debt.
They're the one who is responsible for going and making sure if we're selling $100 million in bonds that we are going to get $100 million in bond proceeds. So that that's their role. Tropman Pepper Lock uh Rick Manley.
So he's our bond council. So making sure all the documentation, the offering statements, making sure we're doing everything by mass general law and it's it's it's it's appropriate and it's uh it's legal.
Uh RKG is our economic development as council Juan was alluding to. They're the ones who are mainly responsible for creating, maintaining, and updating the um the diff model to ensure that our revenues are at a at a level that they're they're supporting the uh the debt service on that.
Okay. And what about Milan and debt book? Uh Milman's an actuary, so they were they were um that's a great question. They were um integral in issuing the pension obligation bond. I know council McGee mentioned that on some of these other communities that it went through a very laborious um process in issuing their bond.
We did too. Um we there was actually a slide that we didn't include that actually had the timeline of all the all the the steps that we're taking and I'd be happy to share that with you. But they were they're our actuary.
They were the ones who basically um did the risk analysis and and helped us uh identify what the u potential savings were in issuing the bond. Okay. And the last ite um Oh, debt book. Debtbook. So, Debtbook is more of a software platform.
So they they um they're a software that that we use that allows us to kind of look at our debt schedules, our current debt schedules, and you know, we work very closely with our financial advisors and they provide us the same a lot of the same information, but it's a little bit more dynamic.
We can kind of be modify scenario analysis, uh do charting and things like that. So um they're they're a strong partner as well. Okay. All right. Thank you. Welcome. Anybody else? Does that mean I can ask questions?
All right. I think this one's going to be for um Mr. Delabber. So, I'm going to try to keep it to three questions and maybe a wrapup. So, the budget, the current budget that we have right now includes a $14 million million in general fund spending for short-term interest based on the reported level of general fund borrowing 58 that appears to be higher than exceeded.
Can you explain that why borrowing that amount is tied to that $14 million? I'm sorry, could you re repeat the question? So, $14 million of interest. It's in the year-to- date budget book. Interest on notes item number 92 95 590205 14,20 um 327.
It's in the general fund spending for short-term interest based on the reported level of general fund borrowing that appears to be higher than expected. That 14,20,327 was the amount budgeted in the FY26 um budget.
So, it's spot on. It's what? It that was the amount budgeted in the FY26 uh budget appropriation. I appreciate that. I understand that. What I'm asking you is, can you explain what that amount is tied to?
That's all the the bands uh that we have outstanding for some of these short-term projects. So, we have $58 million of bands currently outstanding. Correct. That's correct. That's correct. That's not correct.
Oh, I'm sorry. Um, so I'm just trying to add I'm trying to understand it. So I guess you're the chief financial officer. If there's anybody else that can help me understand that I that's what I'm looking to understand.
Your $14 million. It's in the general fund for interest notes, $14 million. And I'm looking at the the presentation you put together. You have $58 million and you have $14 million to pay off those. And you just got done saying you're only paying you're only paying interest only.
So what's the $14 million for? The $14 $14 million in the budget is interest on short-term notes. How many So how much of short-term notes do we have? Do you know what the the number of short-term notes is?
There's 500 there. There is $58 million of notes times I think they were borrowed at a rate of like let's just say 3%. That's the principle. The principal is 58 million times. 03 times 360 days kind of thing is probably $14 million.
So that's the principle. The $14 million is the principal and the 58,000. Oh 14 million is the interest. So the $14 million is the interest of the 58. Correct. It doesn't it doesn't that's not making sense to well there's that's one year that's a 2026 that's fiscal 26 I mean they've got they've got exact numbers by in the process of putting together the budget same thing for fiscal you know as the next set of the same 58 million is maturing we'd have to look at so we have 58,000 um maturing every year right now there's 58 million that's what's it's amassed to that amount and that's maturing in July and September of the rest of this calendar year.
We can get you the exact number. I mean, as as as notes are added, it would add to the interest cost. I I'd like to have that because this is the reason why we're having it is because we're going into budget season and this is last year's budget for $14 million.
And my second question was actually to Miss Miss um Vernie because I wanted to ask the the chief financial officer in that. So the second thing is um when we say that does the diff actually pay for itself.
Can you confirm whether diff revenues fully cover the diff related to debt obligations on the annual annual basis or is there any relevance on the general fund? Is there any reliance on the general fund?
Right now we don't believe there is. We believe that the diff revenue is covering the debt service um on those bonds outstanding in the diff district. So we don't believe there is. Are we doing any kind of forecasting or modeling?
Because we don't believe there is. Isn't really a great feeling when you're talking to the chief financial officer. So, what I'm looking for is we should be modeling. We we know that we can have those bonds out for 10 years and we know that they're going to roll over at different times, but we don't have a forecast for the next five years.
And Mr. Kosha just said that he's looking to talk to probably the assessors to figure what's coming online this year. But we should be able to forecast that out with every project we're having, whatever we're doing, because we're taking out the money for future development and we're not forecasting anywhere.
So, you can't come back to this body and explain where this is all coming. Now, you did say you're doing modeling, but I'm looking for that right now because we're talking about $1.8 billion worth of debt, and I including the short term because short-term does cost money.
even though you're only paying interest only on it right now, it still has an effect in the market and it is still your debt and that and more importantly S&P looks at it. So whether it's short-term or long-term, it's being looked at.
So I'm asking Mhm. not we think it is. I'm asking are we modeling and do we know if we're going to be able to pay the diff? Yes, we are modeling. That model is being produced and put together right now by RKG.
We believe that we'll have the results of that model in the upcoming weeks very shortly. How far out does the model go? It go it goes um Can you come up to the mic? I'm sorry. Sorry. I'm not trying I just want people at home.
You're absolutely. So it's going through from the inception of the first diff I think it was 2017 to 2027. Um they do have all the possibles from the assessments off. That's what takes time. So they want to get all the updated information.
the last valuation has got a little bit stale. It didn't have a lot of the you know new growth, new new possibles that came online, expansion of the area. So that's that's you should have had you should have had something before you were going out for that second model.
You should be able to be you should be able to present tonight and tell us some numbers be before because you've already modeled. You're just you're updating your model. So I'm trying to ask you that simple question.
We have again we we've talked to RKG all week and basically the the the message is yeah we're onetoone. we are covering your debt. You know, the the revenue is covering the debt. Um, but you want a more updated number.
So, that's, you know, we should be doing this every year is what is what we're doing. You should be doing it every year in five years out. You shouldn't just be modeling just for the year. Correct. Correct.
You just said you should be doing it every year. You should be doing it every time. Every time we take short-term debt out with a plan to use it, we should be planning on when that is going to be paid and how we're going to be doing it.
So, what I anticipate when you come here tonight is that you're going to tell us where our five-year plan is and where we stand with debt, not say I think so. Like, that's that's just not acceptable as far as I'm concerned.
I'm just I have to be I'm I'm talking in a whole different point because Mr. Deliver, I know you personally and I'm not trying to be difficult here. I'm just trying to let you know that when you're modeling things like that, that's what we're going to be expecting.
Um, for Hilltop, this is a Hilltop question because the financial standpoint of Quinsey's DIP structured in the way that reliable co reliably covers its associated debt obligations annually. I want to know if you feel as though it's if the risk model that they're talking about.
Do you feel as though have you seen the risk model that they're talking about? I'm assuming you're a financial adviser that you can tell me. We put we've we've looked at from an expenditure side, we've looked at the timing on when each piece of the diff notes have been issued and 10 years later, we've structured a 30-year bond or a 20-year bond or 25-year bond to see what it would cost, making different assumptions about interest rates that might be available, you know, and I and we've and uh the city is working with RKG to come up with revenue estimates, which the debt service could actually be then restructured to mirror what the revenue estimates look like.
And the revenue estimates are going to be another one of the things that are constantly updated and revisited in terms of whether or not how the debt would get structured down the road, the permanent debt.
In the meantime, I think pretty much all of the notes have been issued to finance the infrastructure that's needed for the diff district. And the same notes are now being renewed, rolled over every uh they're they're maturing in two different September and July.
They're being rolled over each of them for 10 years. They're consolidated on a maturity date. Yeah. On those two dates, but otherwise they're being rolled over at whatever the market rate is at the time.
And again, the market rate does depend because when you're rolling over those short-term interest rates with the rollover, it depends on what we can we can estimate those things in future cost them out.
Yeah, we've Yeah, we've got actual class for, you know, we can go back in time and we can go estimate going forward. Absolutely. So, I guess what I was expecting tonight was that we're going to have more solid answers to those types of things.
Um, so, and the reason why I'm asking that is because we talked about flexibility. The diff provides us flexibility and flexibility is good when you're trying to redevelop things, but is the flexibility to the developers or is the flexibility towards the taxpayers?
And that's the question the taxpayers have. That's not something I'm just asking because I'm trying to be difficult. That's why we're having this conversation before we go into the next budget because we're trying to understand and make sure that we're on solid grounds as we move forward because there's a lot of money right now being expended in the city of Quinsey.
And we haven't really had this discussion. I mean, I was on the council for six years. We never had this kind of a discussion and I was off the council for two years. But I am concerned about how much debt we're carrying.
So the next question is from your perspective as a financial advisor what are the key financial risks that the city faces over the next five years in its current debt levels and short-term borrowing. Uh it's the same thing as you know Quinsey is different than every other city and town in the Commonwealth.
They're unique. So when I was hearing the comparison with Watertown before I was thinking you know Watertown is Watertown. We work with Watertown. Quinsey is Quinsey. Um, you know, each each town or city is very different.
Structural balance is very important that the city manage to balance its budget as it goes forward. There's different kinds of things that come up each year that are budget, you know, budget surprises.
This last year, health insurance costs went up a lot. Special ed went up a lot. That seems to be the thing that's a most of the good good number of the communities in the state are in the process of trying to authorize override votes and have been successful.
Quinsey's fortunate. It's had a lot of unused levy capacity under the lower levy limit of Prop 2 and a half. It's got a couple hundred million dollars of unused levy capacity under the primary levy limit.
So, how much do we have in the primary levy? 200 some 200 I'd have to look real quick but 200 over 200 million of unused primary levy limit capacity 287 million of unused an excess levy in no unused primary levy limit so you could do debt exclusions or operating overrides for another $287 million annually right now under the p under the lower levy limit you've got 24 million of unused levy capacity okay and that is one of the things that we use as a financial gauge in the city saying although Last year when we were setting our our tax rate, we used $35 million of reserves to lower our taxes, 16 million of that came from the sale of pens uh the sale of bonds.
16 million of the sale of bonds was used to lower our taxes. Not used to lower our debt, but used to lower our taxes. We used our our re our our excess levy, not excess, we we used our re our reserves, all of our reserves.
We're supposed to be building up $30 million. Perrick actually said when you took out the pension obligation bond that we needed to build a $30 million reserve in pension obligation bond. It's zero. It's zero in the city of Quinsey right now.
And we had about $2.4 million left in uh rainy day fund which is now up to 9.8 because they had a discount rate change for the pension bond which is great. And then we used $2.4 million of free cash. That's all we got.
2 half a billion dollar budget. We got $2.4 4 million back in free cash and we use that to lower the taxes. And this one's my favorite is that we bought a property for $10 million with district improvement financing and we sold it for $7 million to a developer.
And yes, that property is going to bring in money, but we used the proceeds of that seal, $3.5 million to lower the taxes last year, a one-time use. So when I look at the S&P rating, the debt schedule currently reflects 45% increase in principal payments beginning in fiscal year 2026, which officials which plans to absorb through unused property tax capacity of 31.1 in 2025.
So we have been downgraded and we have several really large projects that are being brought to us and this city council is going to have to make a decision. And I'm asking you as our financial adviser, what do we do to prevent ourselves from being downgraded again?
And what our chief financial officer told me was, you don't like us to have reserves. You want us to spend our reserves. You want us to spend our reserves on infrastructure. So, no savings. Is that the financial advice you're giving us?
Uh, no. But I'd like to just refer back. I see Chris would like to speak to that piece of property business. Yeah. If I could jump in first on the on the property and the band premium. Um, the property that you mentioned is the former IHOP site in the downtown and that was purchased for a number.
I think it was around $10 million, but before this body and it was explained and the appraisal was provided, we only sold a $7.8 million portion of that property. We kept the rest of it to build a parking garage.
So, we didn't sell it at a loss. We sold what we needed to sell to make the private development possible on the ban premium paying for tax relief or debt service. I'm done. The band premium paid for debt service, which is what ban premium, one of the few things that band premium can be used for the sale of the prop the property that we did sell, the piece of the property that we did sell, using that money to offset debt service.
Again, very specifically under state law, that property that we sold can only be used to offset, unless there's other special circumstances, can only be used to offset the debt incurred along the process or within the the realm of what we had purchased that property for.
So, I know it's a little bit of like mixing of words. Did we do it to lower the tax rate or did we do it to lower debt service? We lowered debt service which in turn lowered the tax rate and the piece of the property.
Thank you very much, Mr. Walker. So, what I'd like to ask is you are our financial advisor. I'm assuming that you've read the S&P bond rating that's been lowered to a double A minus. I did. Okay. And our chief financial officer told us you do not like us to have a lot of reserves.
We were asking for a financial guide rails to say we should be building up our reserves because we've depleted them any way we want to cut it. We've depleted our Would you agree? We've depleted our reserves.
We don't have $30 million in a pension obligation reserve. Just that's a yes or no question. Do we have $30 million in? I don't have a yes or no answer. There is no I have an answer. Okay, Mr. Delabber, do we have $30 million in a reserve for pension obligation points?
No, we do not. No, we do not. So, back to you, Mr. And I'm not trying to be difficult and it's it's just it's truly just it's kind of fun, right? Like we're talking about this stuff, but we were told that you as our financial advisor would not want us to have 10% of reserves to build up our reserves to 10%.
Because what the bond rating, what S&P is telling us is that we are going to get downgra we're going to get downgraded again because we're using those one-time things. However you want to cut it, we're using $35 million.
Not just this year. The year before we used 19 million, we used nine million. We just keep going back and saying we're going to lower it. In the meantime, we have these bonds that were taken up for short-term bonds for the downtown and we're floating them for 10 years because it gives us flexibility.
But, you know, these projects aren't going online like we think they're going to go online like that fast. They can sit there forever. Like, you know, we were supposed to have a performing arts center down at Msina property and it's not common anytime.
So, now we're talking about putting it at the Muro building. We can go about this all all night long, but that's really what we're doing. So, I'm trying to figure out to the taxpayers, are we going to be able to afford to pay that diff that we're however we cut it?
you know, we bought a we bought a building for AA too with the diff money that wasn't identified or approved by the council and then we sold it without getting approved by the council either. So, I'm asking that question and then just just yesterday or two days ago, I found out that in 2004 we had significant deficits with special education because we mentioned that of 2.5.
We spent $2.5 million that which is against mass law. We were overbudgeted by $2.5 million and we just found out about it because it just got posted from an audit that we had. So, I'm asking because I'm a taxpayer in the city of Quinsey and I own a lovely home that I'd like to stay in.
I like to dream that my kids might want to buy it because it's my family home. My great-grandparents bought built it. They came over from Ireland and they built it in 1870. I'd love that house to stay in the family.
However, I'm very concerned about the debt we're taking on because I don't think anybody's going to be able to afford that house in my family and I'd like to make sure the future generations of Quinsey can afford to live here.
So, I'm asking S&P's downgraded us. We have no reserves currently. We have no $30 million in pension obligation bonds. We were told to build that up is zero. We have $9.8 million in this rainy day fund and we have $55,000 in free cash.
And what I'm asking, and I'm going to look for my my one note that I want to ask myself, what would signal S&P that we're making the proper adjustments in our budgets going forward, this council, working with the administration?
What would not trigger us to have another downgrade? I'm asking my financial adviser. Build up your reserve. Build up my reserve. Build up the general fund reserve a little bit. I it got drawn down inadvertently.
I think it was unintentional. Some cost expenses came up in excess of revenue. So there was a loss in 24 which drew it down. And I think that you know put it put it back. The city has a policy for its reserve.
Mhm. We we have we're at 2.5% not 10%. So my other question is we have unused levy capacity under the lower levy limit. The city council can just I know that. So my question to you also is we have some very large projects.
Can I just jump in here for a minute on on a market perspective? Um the downgrade actually did not cost the city anything. It may not cost the city anything, but it is something that the residents of the city of Quinsey are watching and are asking us, their elected officials, to ask questions for it.
So, just like the $80 million that they lost in the in the pension obligation bond, that wouldn't have been we would have lost more because I think Mr. Kosha just said, "Well, if you didn't do this, then you would probably lose more because the compounded amount for credit cards would be higher." I'm just using your words back.
But, so, yes, I understand that. But S&P has downgraded us. We have big projects that are being talked about for the city of Quinsey, and we as a council are going to have to make that decision for it.
And I'm asking my financial adviserss, S&P has downgraded us. We used all of our reserves to lower taxes last time, how do we move forward to make sure that we can move the city forward. S&P is one marker.
I understand how many that investors look at when they buy bonds. As a matter of fact, every single investor um that buys the city bonds has their own analysis and they have to attribute a rating. Mhm.
The underlying rating of the city is very strong with the investor community. Yes, I understand that the city of Quinsey likes the story of debt, but I'm talking for the taxpayers of the city of Quinsey and I need to understand and I'm asking my financial adviserss and I think you're the person who actually goes out and gets the bonds for us.
But I'm looking for Cindy Mcurnney to tell me how we improve the future status of our city. Whether you agree with S&P or not, that is the thing that grades us right now. and she just did tell me is building up our reserves.
So that is something that we have to balance as a city because the flexibility can't always be to the developers. It sometimes has to be to the residents and we have to be fair about how we're doing that.
And tonight we did not get a five-year perspectus of how we're going to be doing this. But what we were told is that we have short-term bonds we're taking out for 10 years and they're tranches and they roll over.
But there's absolutely no vision for us to be able to see that we can like I can go home and look in my my husband's eyes and tell him he doesn't have to worry about it that the city of Quincy hasn't covered.
That's what I'm trying to get to because not only my husband but all the other people who voted for us to get elected up here. We want to understand the financial future of our city. And I was hoping I would learn a little bit more tonight other than we have we can take out diffs for a long time and pay them back after 30 years.
However, we the city of Quinsey were told if we didn't have it all paid off by 2037, it was going to be the general fund that was going to be picking it up and paying for it. And I'm concerned about that.
Thank you. Just just with regard to standard and pores and their rating, there's a the u they look at your unused levy capacity as a reserve as a they look at what? Sorry. At your unused levy capacity.
Oh, I know they do. Yeah. One of the lower levy limit. Yeah. So, we have $25 million of excess levy. Is that what you're talking about? Right. That amount. Yeah. And what does that mean to the taxpayers?
Well, when's the chances of going to two and a half in Quinsey to have to have a two and a half override? I I don't I don't know. Other cities have done it. I I $25 million of excess levy. Assuming No, you wouldn't you wouldn't do it now, but down the road.
Yeah. What I'm saying is we keep saying we're the city of Quinsey. We will never have to use excess levy. We have excess levy and we'll never all these other towns are using two and a half overrides. We're in such a better shape than everybody else.
However, we have $25 million of excess levy. That's untapped resources that we're not taking. And most financial advisors, and I think you yourself had said to me one time, we're leaving money on the table.
That's the money we're leaving on the table because we're not taxing to the max like a lot of other places. I think there was a concerted effort to not overt tax the population when But we still are overt taxing them.
And now we're using our one-time reserves to drop it down. So something's off. Well, I think if you want to tax the 25 million, you would have plenty of reserves. Oh, I'm sure we would. I'm going to have to ask.
Is that what the administration's hoping to do? But I think the effort has been to keep taxes low. Yes, it has artificial. So the unused levy capacity grew years and well in the last couple of years as the dip construction has come on.
It's important to draw on that to support the the temporary interest. It's it it has it has done that and you're right but artificially low because when we get so the other thing is when we said we shouldn't have to pay the um the assessment that came in from PERIC for our pension obligation bonds because we took out a pension not pension obligation bonds that the the actuarial study that came in said that we had to pay the difference because they said that we owed the money for the state for per said we shouldn't have to pay it we have the pension obligation bond well we're be a mis we're a little bit misled in that particular case because yes, we actually have to pay it because Perrick is kind of watching this all cities and towns until 2040 and you'll always have a little bit of something you have to pay because you might hire somebody at a higher rate than maybe somebody else because it all adds up.
But is that the normal contribution? Because the um unfunded pension liability you've you funded what was unfunded. We did that part. That was the normal contribution. But that part wasn't the problem.
that part. That's what I'm saying is we we did the pension obligation and now that's on our debt and that's actually what's also hitting us with S&P because it's you're right the liability would be there too.
My bigger concern is that we did not have a perspectus for the next 5 years. We're going to be going into budget season starting next week when we'll have the budget for next year and we don't have anything that's going to tell us.
And what I heard tonight was that we're going to model for the next year. So, we'll be able to figure out whether or not we can pay the diff next year, but I would think that we would be modeling for every time we took out a short-term loan, we would be able to show that model for that loan and that this board quarterly should have an update for that so that we can see the direction of the finances for the city.
That's just my personal opinion. I can't speak for the other counselors, but that's what I'd like to see in the city of Quincy. Thank you very much for your presentation. Does anybody else have any other questions?
All right. I think we can move on then. Number five, review of the open meeting law complaint regarding March 23rd, 2026 meeting. All right. So, that's me. So, I think everybody got in their package the open meeting law in the letter.
I'm going to be asking that to my fellow council. Do you all get it in the package? Okay. So, from a legal standpoint, um, we are looking at this and reviewing the complaint during the meeting and how we can respond to that.
I'm acknowledging that there was an open meeting complaint filed by Miss Anne Walker and that she alleges her rights were violated when that when I, the president, asked for the comments to be directed through the chair during public comment.
Um, and I can state that the council has reviewed the complaint because I just asked you, determined it does not raise an open meeting law violation and nonetheless takes transparency and public access seriously.
The council can proceed directly to vote authorizing a written response or you can ask any questions. I'd also like to acknowledge that um the complaint was filed by Miss Walker pursuant to the open meeting law.
Miss Walker contends the council violated her rights when I directed her to put the comments with cheer and not to any individuals. I would like to say that we reflect that I reflect on these this complaint.
I'm not raising an issue and does not raise an issue with open meeting law because everything was posted correctly. But I recognize the council takes matters of transparency and public access very seriously.
If we identify any potential next steps like reviewing public policy, we can talk about this more in a foreign call. And I just am looking to see if there's any questions in regards to the open meeting law violation.
I would like to say something. Well, you're not going to let me. I know it's my open. We can't we we we can't address the public. So, you can't address me. So, I'm going to ask you my complaints. I'm not the public.
I'm the complaint. Well, you broke the law. So, I'm going to go to to be our office. You can dabble me all you want, baby. And you're rude. You were rude to that group. Where's our person? So, is there any comments?
I I Council Rally, thank you, President Mahoney. Um, I am somewhat familiar with the open meeting law because I've taken all of the training with the attorney general's office and I've um exercised my right to file open meeting complaints and I don't know where there isn't a violation here.
Um, under notice of meeting, no deliberation, no meeting minutes, no executive session, no so it seems that the complainant is alleging a first amendment right violation, not an open meeting violation, which is a different path to pursue.
Um, but I would, if you'd like, I'd like to make a motion that we authorize President Mahoney with the assistant of SIS solicitor Timmons if he she requires it to respond to this complaint on behalf of the council and communicate the response to the complainant, the council, and the attorney general's office.
That is a motion. Do I have a second? Seconded by Council McKe. We have a roll call vote. Councelor Ash, yes. Council Dona, yes. Council Hubley, yes. Council Jacobs, yes. Council McKe, yes. Council Riley, yes.
Council Ryan, yes. Council Yan, yes. President Mahoney, yes. Nine members. Thank you very much. Okay, we're moving on to item number six. Number 6, 2026, a resolve impact Quinsey Youth Action Team support.
Council, Council Dona, sorry. Uh, thank you, Madam President. Um, you know, over the years, um, a lot of nonprofit organizations have come to me about, um, working in collaboration with the city council as well as the community, uh, the whole entire city of Quinsey.
So, Impact Quinsey Youth Action Team is basically a group of high school students who live in or or in or attend school in Quinsey and are actively developing leadership and act advocacy skills. Also, Quinsey uh youth action team works in collaboration with Bayate Community Services, the and Quinsey Asian resources.
Um, basically their their focus is reducing and preventing youth substance use. Um, IQ YAT is currently conducting environmental scans of alcohol and tobacco retailers throughout the community to better understand how the local environment influences youth behaviors and social norms related to alcohol and tobacco/nicotine use.
Uh, research and lived uh, experience demonstrate that youth often adapt behaviors based on what they see in the surroundings. um the environment with the high visible of alcohol and tobacco retail locations may contribute to the to to widely accepted within the community.
Basically, I'm coming in front of the the council tonight. Now, therefore, be resolved that the Quinsey City Council hereby recognizes and supports the efforts of impact Quinsey youth action team in conducting environmental scans and advancing initiatives that promote youth leadership, advocacy, and substant use prevention.
Um, also they be re resolved that the Quincy City Council encourages continued collaboration with lu youth leaders and community partners to better understand environmental influence and to foster healthier environment for young people.
Let it also be refer uh resolved that the city council provide a forum for the presentation of impact Quinsey youth action team in collaboration with Bayate community services and Quinsey aids and resources to find their fi to share their findings.
This primary purpose is to for this forum uh will be deliver uh distributed information to residents regarding the issue. Um, basically counselors, if we could work um with these nonprofits, allow them to maybe come in with a presentation.
Um, you feel free to to chime in. Uh, feel free to to to bring in any other nonprofits that you think are duly um want to come in front of us, but uh I'd like to make a motion to approve and to put this into a dual oversight and education um committees.
I put that in a form of a motion. I'll second that. by Councelor Jacobs on the motion. Does anybody have any questions, comments? And we could move that to um it's passed and move it to um a roll call vote.
Councelor Ash, yes. Council Dona, yes. Council Hubley, yes. Council Jacobs, yes. Council McKe, yes. Council Riley, yes. Council Ryan, yes. Council Yen, yes. President Mahoney, yes. Nine members, council.
Moving on. Number seven, 2026 064 resolve FY2024 audit findings report on federal award programs. So I just put this in. I had um a correspondent from a resident and I'm going to not do her name justice, but I think it's Mary Viselli and um it had gone out to um the Mr.
Delabber on August 20th, April 20th, 2026. So, be it resolved, the city council hereby places on the agenda the matter of the fiscal year 2024 audit findings as identified and reported in the federal awards program dated August 29th, 2025 for review and discussion.
Therefore, be it resolved that the matter be referred to the finance and oversight committee for further review and ongoing oversight. Be it further resolved that the mayor, chief financial officer, and any relevant department heads be prepared to address this to the council regarding one the city's kind current financial exposure related to the 2,5726567 $675 in question cost.
The status of any federal or state review determination or required repayment. The status of correction actions plans for the audit findings. actions taken to address the internal control deficits, including budgetary compliance and information technology technology controls and any anticipated impact to the fiscal 2027 budget.
Be it further resolved that a comprehensive response be provided to the council in writing in conjunction with the mayor's fisc fiscal year 2027 budget presentation on May 4th, 2026. Can I get a motion on that?
I think you have to motion I think you have to do more than a motion to approve. So you have to motion to approve and refer it to committee finance finance and oversight. Motion to approve and refer to committee for financial.
Okay. And do I have a second? Second by councelor Riley. Anybody on the motion? You want to speak the motion? Um I I'll make a few comments. Um, so I I think what c kind of caught us all off guard by this email was um, you know, the delay in timing.
I mean, this is a 2024 report um or or management letter that this constituent has been asking for and suddenly got posted to the website. Um, I don't I don't see how we can make informed decisions when we're looking at data that's two years old.
We're still waiting for the 2025 uh audit and uh here we are looking at the 2026 2027 budget cycle. So I think we need to improve on how we turn this kind of information around. There's two significant deficiencies identified and one material weakness.
Um one of them relates to information technology. You know, we need to do better at getting this information out. So hopefully we can tackle that in in uh in committee. Does anybody else have anything to add?
I just want to make a note too that the G the master term law basically tells you that you cannot overspend and we overspent by $2.5 million. And when you're looking at the report, what it says was when they did the audit, they couldn't find the receipts for that.
That's what the audit says. So, I'm sure they'll have a they'll have a written statement for us next week. But these are concerns to us and we've been pointing them out. whether it's $3.5 million being stolen from the the pension from the retirement board or it's the um Mr.
Mason's name being left on um signing off on procurement documents or signing off on anything until January, end of January when he left last August and it and the list goes on and on. So I do and then also we we also asked for um I think it was Miss Riley you also asked for clasby to be brought back before us and we were told that we put in systems to make sure we safeguarded that so it would never happen again.
I'm not seeing any of those things and I'm getting very concerned about those things and tonight we just had a presentation for debt and we don't have a five-year perspectives to even look out into the future for that.
That makes me very nervous about our finances in the city of Quinsey and our safeguards. So that is the reason why I brought that forward. When I read it from the the constituent who brought it to my attention, I felt as though it needed to be brought here.
So with that, there's a motion on the table that's been seconded. We need a roll call vote. Councelor Ash, yes. Councelor Debana, Council Hubley, yes. Council Jacobs, yes. Council McKe, yes. Council Riley, yes.
Council Ryan, yes. Council Yen, yes. President Mahoney, yes. Nine members. Moving on to item number eight, 2026 065 resolution supporting H1014S588, an act establishing a climate change super fund. Council Hley Oh, sorry.
Just a little Oh, sorry. Council McGee, I'm not sure what's happening. We're doing a little dance. We we co-sponsored it um for today a little bit late. Um but um as we heard a little bit from the people who spoke at open forum um this is a way for Quinzy to get money from the biggest polluters from 1995 to the end of 2024.
Um so and then they they would pay for that over the next 25 years. This is state legislation um co-sponsored by um Senator Keenan um and um New York has New York State has already passed this and they're looking at maybe $75 billion um if it goes you know if the money comes through and um Massachusetts is estimated to see about $25 billion over the next 25 years.
Um the bill mandates that 40% of funds go to environmental justice communities and ensures that coastal communities get their fair share. So Quinsey would be prioritized for funding for local climate uh projects including tree planting, storm water infrastructure, which we just recently heard is an issue, wetland restoration, seaw walls, and more.
Um and um this uh city auditor was kind enough to look through and um so far I guess since 2011 um the city has spent um at least Oh, that's on seaw walls and then that's on the storm. Right. Right. Um, so at least $26 million on both seaw walls and um the big 2018 storm Riley.
Um, and you know, we're not quite finished even accounting for it. So this is even if you don't care about the environment, if we just kind of think about it from a fiscal perspective, having a revenue stream to handle some of these um challenges that we're already facing and when will continue to face uh more and more in coming years I think will be really important.
So um yes, other cities have um supported it. um Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Malden, Newton, Pittsfield, and Brooklyn. And um lots of organizations are are supporting it as well. So the hope is that as more cities uh support it with resolutions, then state legislators will take it out of committee, pass it through.
So, um I move that we um approve this and send a letter as it says in the in the resolution. I'll second of course and then on the motion. Um so, I just want to thank Council McKe for bringing this up and collaborating on this.
Uh it's very important to me. There's a lot of um great work that the city is doing in terms of its resiliency. Um, I'll specifically name Margaret Leforest among others who are out there all the time looking for ways to try to um fund things through grants and through all different types of creative and and really hard work.
Um, so I'm very impressed by uh the work that we're currently doing, but right now a lot of that work when it doesn't get handled by grants is, you know, on the backs of the taxpayers. And I think this is an opportunity for us to join other communities and join other states in trying to recoup the costs of what we're going to need to do from those who caused the damage.
And so I think uh it's alsoite quite timely as council Jacobs just reminded me um you know we have a seaw wall project that we're facing. So you know these funds would be amazing resource if if that were possible.
So um just wanted to say that. So excellent. Does anybody else have anything? Councilor Ryan. Yes. As someone who has actually experienced uh severe flooding, this is long overdue. Um we really need to take a look at climate change in the country.
Torrential rainstorms can flood a street in a matter of half an hour. And once you go through it, it's something that you never forget and is with you for the rest of your life. So, I highly support this bill.
Council Jacobs. Yeah. Just want to uh say thank you to Council McKe and Council Hubley for uh bringing this forward. Um as you know, living in House Neck, you know, um we have our fair share of coastal issues.
You know, just you um this uh covers about $25 million and return. And just to um kind of go off what I was telling Mr. to hub here. Um, you know, just the seaw wall alone from um, you know, Mry Mount, you know, down to House Neck.
I mean, I think that was like 17 million, right? So, in the next extension of the wall, we're looking at like upwards of 20 million. So, um, you know, even just this amount of money wouldn't even pay for that total project because that total project was, you know, far surpasses what could potentially be $25 million.
So, um, you know, I think this is a great This would be 25 billion. Oh, 25 billion. Over 25 years. But that's Oh, that's that's total. But that's total over to Massachusetts. Yeah. To Massachusetts, right?
Yeah. So, again, just, you know, a good way to to recover some funds to help pay for these projects. So, excellent. Anybody else? So, we have a motion and a second. I would say that I didn't join this, but I do absolutely approve of it and I apologize that I didn't get that I didn't catch that email.
So, sometimes I get I get down on myself because I can't read everything. Um, but thank you very much for bringing this forward. So, we have a motion and we have a second and we need a roll call vote.
Council Ash, yes. Council Debon, yes. Council Hubley, yes. Council Jacobs, yes. Council McKe, yes. Council Riley, yes. Council Ryan, yes. Councelor Yen, yes. President Mahoney, yes. Nine members. Moving on to number nine.
2026 066. A gift for $250 from Key Realy to Dear. Councelor Jabona. Seconded by Councelor Hubi. Um and we need a um no discussion. We probably want a letter to be sent out. And if you could do the roll call, please.
Councelor Ash. Yes. Council Dona. Council Hubley. Yes. Council Jacobs. Yes. Council McKe. Yes. Council Riley. Yes. Council Ryan, yes. Councelor Yen, President Mahoney, yes. Nine members. Moving on to approval of previous minutes, April 6, 2026 and April 13th of 2026 finance committee.
Do I have the motion? Motion to approve by council Riley, seconded by councelor Hubley. All those in favor? All right, the eyes have it. I'm going to say there's no nos. Communications and reports from the mayor and other city officers and city bards.
City, city boards, birds. Um, city clerk, u, do you have any traffic and utilities? Um, I have, um, two two utilities to refer to public works committee for schedule and advertising. Ward two, grant a location, Mass Electric Verizon, 4650 Winter Street pole move and utility grant a location Mass Electric Verizon 4650 Winter Street pole installed.
I also have um some traffic requests to refer to ordinance committee for advertising. W two councelor Ash add stop signs on Germaine A at Commonwealth A creating a four-way stop sign. W three council Hubley add two stop signs on Lincoln A at Winthrop a creating a four-way stop.
Ward four, councelor Ryan at no parkin on the even side of Mvesty Way from Forest A to 70 feet southwest of Forest A. Ward six, Councelor Riley at handicap parking at 82 Glover Avenue. Go ahead. Okay, moving on to unfinished business and proceeding meetings.
Sorry, President. We we I also have um a public utility to bring out. Um, we had a public hearing on March 16th at 6:25 p.m. 2026-025 utility grant to location Mass Electric Verizon, 137 Sagamore Street.
Uh, we kept this in committee uh for councelor uh Riley. Um, uh, I know that she wanted to make sure um, given the the, uh, the public comments and the the back and forth from some of the neighbors, we wanted to do some due diligence and would like to bring that out now um, for a vote.
Uh, so if I may, that's 2026-025 with with a positive recommendation from the uh public utilities. Okay. Thank you. Was that a motion? That was a motion. That's a motion. Seconded by councelor Riley. And can we have a roll call vote?
Councelor Ash? Yes. Councilor Debona. Yes. Council Hubley. Yes. Council Jacobs. Yes. Council McKe? Yes. Council Riley? Yes. Council Ryan? Yes. Council Yen? Yes. President Mahome? Yes. Nine members. All right.
Is there any other unfinished business in proceeding? You good? Okay. Moving on to reports of committee council. You didn't we didn't have a vote. Do we have Right. You're all set. All right. And public works.
Oh, sorry. Oh, traffic. A couple of uh traffic requests. So, from ordinance. So, uh, 2026 059 add handicap parking at 62 Hobart Street in Ward 3. Positive recommendation um by the ordinance committee.
Motion to approve. Motion to approve. Second by council. Roll call vote. Council Ash. Yes. Council Deon. Yes. Council Hubley. Yes. Council Jacobs. Yes. Council McKe. Yes. Council Riley. Yes. Council Ryan.
Yes. Councilor Yen. Yes. President Mahoney. Yes. Nine members. And then the last one is um 2026 060 in Ward 6 to add handicap parking um at 258 Newberry Avenue. Um positive recommendation uh by the ordinance committee.
Motion to approve. We have a motion to approve. Second by councelor um Jacobs. Um and we can't actually do all those in favor for this. I I messed up. So all those in favor. Any oppose? The eyes have it.
Is that it, Council McKe? Yes, that's it. So, we're going to go back to public works to councelor Ash. Yes. Thank you, Madam President. Uh, we had a public hearing at 6:35 p.m. tonight, Monday, April 27th, 2026 on 2026-061 utility granted location, National Grid Gas, 1550 Hancock Street, Nukem Street, and 78 McGrath Highway.
Uh, positive recommendation from committee. Motion by councelor Ash, second by councelor Riley. Um, and this one needs a roll call vote. Councelor Ash, yes. Council Dana, yes. Council Hub. Council Jacobs, yes.
Council McKe, yes. Council Riley, yes. Council Ryan, yes. Councelor Yan, yes. President Mahoney, yes. Nine members. Moving on to presentations of petitions, memorials, and remmonstruses. Councelor Hubley.
All right. Thank you, President Mahoney. So, um, the city lost an amazing person. So, the city council joins the community in mourning the passing of Mildred Millie Cox, a proud Marine and devoted public servant who passed away on April 22nd at the age of 102.
Um, Millie enlisted in the United States Marine Corps's Women's Reserve on her 20th birthday and served in Aviation Women's Reserve Squadron 15 at the US Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, North Carolina during World War II.
Her service helped pave the way for generations of women who followed in armed services. After her mil military service, Millie continued her lifelong commitment to Quinsey through her work in Quinsey public schools and later as a clerk to the veteran services office where she assisted and supported local veterans.
Millie was honored in 2024 at the Quinsey Naval Park in Squanum Point Marina Bay. The park offers a lasting tribute to sailors, Marines, and Coast Guard members. Milliey's life was defined by service to our country, her city, her fellow veterans.
We're grateful for her extraordinary contributions and proud to call her one of city's zones and our thoughts are with her family, friends, and all that who had the honor of knowing her. Um, on a personal note, I met her a bunch of times and she always remembered who I was and um, very nice lady and a very active Facebook friend.
Like everything every time I put something out there, she was like racing to be the first one liking it and commenting on it. So, um, we'll miss her very much. Thank you very much. Does anybody else have any councelor Ash?
Certainly. Um extend condolences to the to the Cox family. Um I also wanted to highlight um and pay uh some respects to the family of Maryanne Dematio um age 79, longtime Quinsey Point resident. U Maryann was born was born in Quinsey.
Um she graduated from PMPon Academy, class of 1964. Um she earned her nursing degree from Shadic Hospital in Boston and she lived in Quinsey Point for the large majority of her life. Um she was employed as a licensed practical nurse and worked at various facilities including Colonial Rehab and Nursing in Weimoth.
She enjoyed working in her yard and I can I can attest to that working in her yard all the time, shopping and being with her family and friends. Um just a a joy and a a wonderful neighbor and and resident of Quincy Point.
So to the Dematio family, um certainly extend condolences and my respects, our respects. Um the services are Friday, May 1st at 11 a.m. Um Sweeny's uh Sweeney Brothers Home for Funerals. There's a visitation from 10 to 11:00 prior to the services.
Thank you. Thank you very much. And Council Jacobs, um in Wood One, we lost uh James O'Brien, um a longtime resident here of Quinsey. um strong ward one family, grew up in and raised his family in that area.
Um his son um is a uh Quinsey police officer uh Mike O'Brien and um you know but he uh raised his family here, spent his career working with um Thomas Edison company and we just ask that you keep his family and thoughts and prayers.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Any others for council dabona? Thank you madam president. just um as we're done with the condolences, sad. Um we're approaching the 11:00 hour. Um if people are still viewing, there's still a few folks here in in the chambers, which is really good.
We're coming up on uh I don't know, four plus hours or whatever. Um this Saturday, May 2nd, it's going to be cleaner, greener. Um the city of Quinsey does a phenomenal job with getting the um different rakes and gloves and, you know, material out there of mulch.
Um, so I know a lot of the ward council is going to be doing their schools um and um other other nonprofits uh organizations will be collaborating together. Flower groups um so um just just get the word out there.
Um it it was been a tough long cold rainy winter snow. So, um there's a lot of debris that's out there and it's a great opportunity to really um get some flowers planted, get some mulch on the on the grounds and make it makes make these areas really look nice.
So, um get the word out there for everybody for cleaner greeter 9:00 to 12:00. Um and then up at uh Pageant Field, the mayor always does a cookout, so we can go up there afterwards. So, let everybody know.
Thank you. Excellent. Um any motions, orders, or resolutions? Upcoming meetings Monday, May 4th at 7:30, city council meeting. Do we have any upcoming um meetings? Subcommittee meetings budget. Any finaliz?
I'm trying to I'd like to schedule an oversight committee uh meeting for 202632, which is the order requiring disclosure of tenencies, leases, and terms and finances at the Monroe building. Uh Monday, May 4th, Star Wars Day works for me.
That's Star Wars Day. May the 4th be with you. What time? Well, I 6:30. Yeah. I just I'm just hoping that I I was in contact with Mr. Walker if we can have the parties that need to be there like Joe Sha Jr.
and and and I was hoping that we could get a um tour of the building cuz I know that myself I'd like to see like the current um status of the building, meaning like not just like a storefront, but like some of the dark and dingy places like the basement and like where the utilities come into the building and where the utilities go out of the building.
arrange something in that situation because we'd either have to post a meeting if all of us were going to go or maybe do it in groups of three. Y um so you'll have to work that out with with Mr. Walker tour guide Mr.
Walker be me. All right. Any other meetings to schedule? I think we're going to be coming up after May 4th. We'll be scheduling some upcoming um budget meetings. Correct. Yes. All right. Motion to adjurnn.