Mayor Sarno said, “Managing our nearly three quarters of a billion local budget during this COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic has been challenging. I want to thank and acknowledge CAFO TJ Plante and his finance team for their fiscal stewardship, especially during this past fiscal year. As always, we are doing our due diligence and we will be prepared to deal with ‘the ebb and flow’ of our local, state and national economic landscape and be ready to capitalize on any and all fiscal relief measures coming from the state and federal level. I am very proud of our fiscal management. My administration has spared no expense in providing as much relief for our residents and business community as possible, while also providing a coordinated and strategic approach with all of our public and private partners to mitigate and defeat this virus.”
CAFO T.J. Plante stated, “FY21 was a challenging year on all fronts. I am very proud of our finance team for their efforts in working with each city department to address their needs on behalf of our residents and businesses during this pandemic. As we kick off our FY22 budget process, our goal is to maintain core services with an eye on fiscal sustainability and relief and recovery aspects post-pandemic. I look forward to working with the Mayor and department heads to craft a thoughtful budget that lives within our means and doesn’t mortgage the future.”
“My Administration will continue to provide strong fiscal leadership for an efficient, effective, strategic, and compassionate way to assure that our city services continue to be provided for our residents and business community while also being ready to move our city forward in a positive direction to capitalize on our ongoing economic development initiatives post-pandemic,” Mayor Sarno added.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the public budget hearings will be held virtually in partnership with Focus Springfield. Those departments having a budget hearing today included: OMB, 311 Call Center, Capital Asset Construction, Human Resources and Labor Relations, Benefits, Procurement, IT, Assessors, Comptroller, and Treasurer/Collector. Those attending the meeting were: Mayor Sarno; CAFO TJ Plante; Deputy CAFO Lindsay Hackett; Grants/Budget Director Melanie Acobe; Communications Director William Baker; Director of Constituent Services Molly Shea; 311 Director Roy Goodman; Capital Asset Construction Director Peter Garvey; HR Director Attorney William Mahoney; Benefits Director Heather Potito; Procurement Director Lauren Stabilo and Deputy Director of Procurement Attorney Theo Theocles; IT Director Andy Doty and Bob Maggi; Chairman of the Board of Assessors Richie Allen and Assessors Matthew Fontaine and Attorney Patrick Greenhalgh; Comptroller Pat Burns; Treasurer/Collector Chris Caputo; and Budget Analysts Erin Hand, Hamediah Mohammed, and Chris Fraser.
