The City Council’s Finance Committee, of which I am vice chair, will meet at 6:30 p.m., Monday, June 16, in the City Council chambers, 212 Main St., to consider nine requests for Community Preservation Act funds totaling $1,518,962 recommended by the Community Preservation Committee.

A Zoom link for remote participation will be included with the agenda, which will be posted no later than Thursday, June 12.

The projects include $248,000 for construction of the Boggy Meadow Road universal access trail from the Broad Brook Greenway entrance at Cooke Avenue for approximately one-third mile to the beaver pond.

Also, $35,000 would go to the Laurel Park Historic Resource Documentation Project. It will help preserve the history and culture of Laurel Park and its role with the Chautauqua movement.

Other projects are $639,615 for a playground at the Leeds School that is accessible and inclusive to all, including children and caregivers of varying cognitive, sensory and social-emotional abilities; $316,553 for the Betty Allen chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution to improve accessibility of its quarters in the Ebenezer Clapp House, 148 South St.; $98,329 for conservation of gravestones at the West Farms and Park Street cemeteries; $91,065 for repair and restoration of the clothing collection at Historic Northampton; $70,000 for a flood resilience plan at Maines Field; $17,400 for improved accessibility at the David Ruggles Center, 225 Nonotuck St., Florence; and $3,000 for conservation of the textile collection at the Forbes Library.

The Finance Committee recommendations are expected to be voted on by the City Council during its next meeting at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 18, in the City Council chambers, 212 Main St. The meeting was moved up a day because of the Juneteenth holiday.

The Community Preservation Act was adopted by Northampton voters in 2005, and funds are generated by a 3 percent surcharge on property taxes, with matches from the state. Since its adoption, the CPA has funded 188 projects, including preservation of hundreds of acres of open space and agricultural land, construction of more than 200 units of affordable housing, creation of multi-use trails and new recreational fields and facilities, and restoration of more than 30 historic resources and structures.

Further information, including project applications, is available here:

https://www.northamptonma.gov/1048/Community-Preservation-Committee

Municipal budget

The City Council on June 5 postponed until its next meeting at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 18, in the City Council chambers, 212 Main St., a vote on the fiscal year 2026 budget proposed by Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra. The delay gives councilors more time to consider information presented during hearings on the budget, which ended June 4, and to hear from constituents.

The mayor proposed a $145,301,999 budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, an increase of 4.8 percent from this year.

The fiscal year 2026 budget includes $43,894,984 for Northampton Public Schools, up by $2,439,644, or 5.88 percent, from this year.

The proposed budget also includes $326,392 to hire eight additional firefighters and $52,410 for one new public safety dispatcher because of the increase in emergency calls.

Other municipal departments would receive smaller increases. The total budgeted for Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School is $11,794,397; Police, $6,895,628; Public Works, $4,366,650; Information Technology Services, $2,075,940; Central Services, $2,045,640; Forbes Library, $1,610,650; and Health and Human Services, $1,390,931

Here is a link to the fiscal year 2026 budget:

https://northamptonma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/30931/Mayors-FY2026-Budget-PDF?bidId=

The budget also is available in print at the city clerk’s office, 210 Main St.; Forbes Library, 20 West St.; and Lilly Library, 19 Meadow St., Florence.

“Medicare for All” resolution

The City Council on June 5 voted unanimously in favor of a resolution I cosponsored supporting “An Act Establishing Medicare for All in Massachusetts” that the Legislature is considering. The other sponsors are Jeremy Dubs of Ward 4, Rachel Maiore of Ward 7 and Quaverly Rothenberg of Ward 3.

The resolution states: “an alternative system that provides quality, affordable health care for all would remedy the unfairness, unevenness, and disparity of the current healthcare system and advance the goals of increasing access, improving quality and containing costs …

“Medicare for All, or single-payer health care, is a system that would guarantee inpatient and outpatient medical, dental, vision, and nursing home care for all Massachusetts residents regardless of income, employment status, or pre-existing conditions, and without copayments, deductibles or cost sharing by establishing the Massachusetts Health Care Trust Fund that centralizes health care financing and cost control, while maintaining the private delivery of health care.”

The resolution also cites the predicted savings of approximately $6.6 million annually for the city on health insurance for employees and retirees if the state adopts a single-payer health care system.

In supporting the resolution, I said that the unstable federal political climate, including threatened cuts to health care funding, makes adopting universal health care more imperative than ever.

The resolution is similar to one approved by the City Council in 2017. This year’s sponsors credited Ward 1 resident Shelly Berkowitz, a retired family physician, for her work on the resolution’s language and helping to organize community support for universal health care.

The full resolution is available here:

https://northamptonma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/25315?fileID=204364

Northampton Rehabilitation and Nursing Center redevelopment

Valley Community Development Corp. is accepting lottery applications from people who want to live at Prospect Place, the former nursing home at 737 Bridge Road that is being redeveloped into 60 units of affordable housing

Completion of the studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments is expected in October.

The application deadline is Sunday, Aug. 31, and the lottery drawing will be held at noon, Wednesday, Sept. 17, at the Northampton Center for the Arts, 33 Hawley St.

Full details about the lottery, including eligibility information, is available here:

https://www.hmrproperties.com/property/prospect-place-northampton-massachusetts/

Also, as construction continues at the site, the arborvitae bordering Prospect Avenue is being removed so a new sidewalk can be built. The arborvitae will be replaced later this summer.

Any questions may be sent to project manager William Womeldorf at WW@ValleyCDC.org or (413) 586-5855 x160.

Stan