New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell announced a series of “austerity measures” on Friday. The moves are a response, he said, to the City Council recently cutting $10.2 million out of his proposed city budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
Among the service reductions announced were a hiring freeze for non-public safety agencies for the first quarter of the fiscal year and the planned closure of the historic Casa da Saudade library. The library was established in 1971 and has a collection of around 34,000 texts, newspaper and magazine subscriptions and other materials acquired to assist Portuguese fishermen and their families.
“The Council chose not to adopt reasonable healthcare reforms that have long been in place in nearly every municipality in our region, which would have relieved pressure on taxpayers,” Mitchell said in a press release. “Instead, they hastily voted on a raft of cuts with hardly any deliberation, which reduced spending in areas that the City is legally required to support, and in other areas that will result in the contraction of key services.”
The City Council made the budget cuts in question in June during its annual “cut night.”
“The overall result of that was a reduction of about $10.2 million in the city’s operating budget for fiscal year ‘26,” Mayor Mitchell’s Spokesperson Jonathan Darling said. “And the austerity measures that the administration is taking now were triggered by that $10.2 million reduction in our budget. So you know, you can’t spend money you don’t have.”
According to Darling, Michell’s office has submitted supplemental budget requests to the Council. If those requests are approved, they could restore funding to some areas Mitchell says the city has legal obligations to fund, such as school spending requirements, the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center, and school transportation.
“In essence, the state says you have to spend X dollars on your school system, and you cannot spend under that,” Darling said. “And the city council went and cut that number down by $3.29 million. So we had to file a supplemental request, put it in writing, and ask that body of the City Council to restore that funding, because the state law mandates that you have to spend that much.”
City Council President Shane Burgo defended the Council’s cuts.
“Every year, the Mayor throws a tantrum when the Council exercises its rightful authority to rein in overspending,” Burgo said in a statement. “Every year, we are met with fear mongering headlines, service closures, and dramatic claims intended to punish the public for the Council doing its job.”
The City Council is scheduled to meet to discuss the budget further on July 17.
