01.27.22_Mayor Ballantyne Communication to City Council_FY23 budget priorities — File 213016

CITY OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS KATJANA BALLANTYNE MAYOR CITY HALL ● 93 HIGHLAND AVENUE ● SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS 02143 [phone removed], EXT. 2100 ● TTY: [phone removed]● FAX: (617) 625- 3434● www.somervillema.gov E-MAIL: mayor@somervillema.gov To: Honorable Members of the City Council From: Katjana Ballantyne, Mayor RE: Request for input on priorities for FY23 Budget Date: January 27, 2022 Honorable Members of the City Council: Earlier this month, I outlined my administration’s 100-day agenda focused on intensifying efforts to tackle the most pressing issues facing Somerville, delivering on community priorities, strengthening basic services, and ensuring that we as a city apply an equity lens to all our actions. Since November 2021 I have met with members of the City Council. I have enjoyed discussing your priorities as well as how we can work together to raise up the voices of all in our community and especially those who have not always been heard. I have spent my first weeks in office working with community members from diverse groups including families, artists, residents of public housing, youth, our immigrant communities, and others in order to ensure that their voices are heard. To start making progress on our common goals, I am requesting City Councilors to submit their funding priorities, as a resolution no later than the first regular City Council meeting in April for the upcoming FY23 budget. I look forward to hearing where you feel it is most important for our community to invest, which will be used to inform discussions within the administration during budget development. My staff will use these submissions as part of a deliberate and equitable process to create my administration’s first budget proposal. My goal with our budget submission is to follow up on addressing needs and pursuing initiatives that promise the most impact for our residents. We will evaluate priorities within the context of our existing systems, and, where needed, make changes to best serve our community. Your values and ideas – and the priorities of your residents that I know you will amplify – are an important piece of that conversation. I look forward to that input. Sincerely, Katjana Ballantyne Mayor