Mayor Joshua Garcia gives his State of the City address during the Special City Council meeting on May 13.
Photo credit: Holyoke Media
HOLYOKE — Mayor Joshua A. Garcia gave his fourth annual State of the City address at the Holyoke Special City Council meeting on May 13, which included his proposed fiscal year 2026 budget.
The proposed budget was $180 million, which is about a $8 million increase from FY25.
According to Garcia, the FY26 budget is balanced and “avoids the need for a Proposition 2½ override, preserves core municipal services and does not rely on reserves or free cash.”
Major drivers of the budget are the Holyoke Public Schools, transportation, city employees’ health insurance and retired employees’ pensions.
The city’s required local contribution to the public schools is set to increase by 5.87% or $773,886, in accordance with the Student Opportunity Act, bringing the total to $13.96 million.
After all offsets, the city’s net cost will increase by 5.23%, or $1.19 million, totaling $23.89 million.
For transportation, costs continue to escalate, increasing by 10.32% or approximately $1.2 million for a total of $12.78 million.
Health insurance premiums will rise by 9%, or $661,859, totaling $13.75 million.
With pensions, the Retirement Board’s accelerated funding schedule, targeting full funding by 2032, requires a 4.65% increase or $584,545, bringing the retirement appropriation to $13.15 million.
With roughly $8 million, it keeps the city on schedule for fully funding retirement by 2032.
Garcia said his budget takes a conservative approach to anticipated revenue and new growth to give the city “fiscal flexibility in the face of economic uncertainty.”
He said the budget he presented, “reflects current revenue and expenditure projections and a balanced consideration of the city’s municipal service needs. Revenue assumptions are based on the Senate Ways and Means budget and are subject to change pending final decisions by the Governor and Legislature.”
The City Council will address the budget at hearings scheduled for Monday, May 19, Wednesday, May 28, and Monday, June 9.
During the hearings, the City Council will meet with respective department heads and review the proposed budget line by line. The council may entertain additional cuts to the budget but cannot add to the budget.
The mayor’s proposed budget with his budget narrative can be found on the city’s website at holyoke.org.
During his State of the City address, Garcia also highlighted positive events that have taken place in the city including a balanced budget, changing the treasurer position from elected to appointed, hiring a new police chief, getting the Holyoke Public School district out of receivership, modernizing its finance department and focusing on public safety of the community.
With the Municipal Finance Modernization Act, Garcia talked about the need to create a new position, a chief financial administrative officer.
“That’s right. Yes, it’s time to talk about the CAFO again. The CAFO position is the next logical step in shoring up our fiscal house. The state Division of Local Services has recommended that we create this position for nearly two decades. Let’s not delay this any further,” Garcia stated.
The reforms in the Municipal Finance Modernization Act would empower the city to collect revenues more effectively and to forecast our financial future in a more timely, accurate way and will help ensure continuity across administrations.
Garcia stated, “If you approve this plan, we project a savings of over $100,000 in 2027. This is a big deal. I’m calling on the council to pass this act before the end of this fiscal year, so that it can start being put into place by July 1.”
Although Garcia acknowledged there is still work to be done, he said, “Holyoke, let’s not close ourselves in the dark. Let’s not stop in the past or scrape along in the present. Let’s listen to one another. Let’s work together. Let’s be in solidarity with one another. Let’s clearly see tomorrow. And then let’s go build it. Together. Why not?”
