New Bedford's budget gap and the quest for fiscal balance

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WBSM presents the Tim Weisberg Show streaming live on WBSM.com and the WBSM app. Call 508996500. Send us app chat messages and openline voicemails using the WBSM app. Now, the Tim Weisberg Show And welcome back in third and final hour of the program here on Tuesday morning. New Bedford City Council President Ryan Pereira will be joining us momentarily and he'll be taking your calls at 5089960500 app chat and openline voicemails on the WBSM app. A reminder too that we are still running a contest this week for tickets to see Ricky Rocket and the Rocket Mafia coming up at the Vault Performing Arts Center and Pub in downtown New Bedford. That is coming up on Friday, September 11th. This is the big anniversary show for Poison's debut album, Look What the Cat Dragged In. So, uh, if you're not familiar with Ricky Rocket, he is the drummer and co-founder of Poison. And since the band is not going out on tour this year to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their debut release, uh, you know, as you probably heard the news, there was some dis disagreement between Brett Michaels and the rest of the band about where Brett should be paid versus the rest of the band. And Brett was kind of like, I can go out with my band and tour and make this much. And so there was like all of this, you know, stuff going on behind the scenes. And so they said, "Ricky Rock." I said, "Well, I'm just going to bring my Rocket Mafia group out, his little all-star group and we'll play Look What the Cat Dragged in in its entirety." And that's what they're going to do. Plus some of your other favorite Poison songs as well. That's going to be happening at the vault. You're going to get to see Ricky Rocket of Poison right here in New Bedford on Friday, September 11th. You can get tickets now at vaultnb.com if you want to just purchase them. And I would recommend getting them soon so that you get them before they sell out. And also you can enter to win a free pair at wbsm.com or on the WBSM app. Thanks to the vault and to Stevie's Wine and Spirits in Fair Haven for making all of our ticket giveaways possible. But uh if you've never been to a show at the vault, it's very intimate. So if you are a Poison fan, you're you're probably not going to be able to get any closer to Ricky Rocket than at this show. And I would not be surprised if he, you know, doesn't hang around and, you know, take pictures with people and sell some merch and all that stuff, too. I I don't know that for sure, but a lot of the uh the rock stars that come through the vault, they they like that the fact that they can meet the people afterwards. And he may be selling meet and greets on his website, too, where you get to spend a little extra time with him as well. I have not checked for that yet, but we're supposed to have him join us at some point here on the program to not only promote that show, but I want to talk to him about his his other side gig. Ricky Rocket is a big paranormal investigator. And one of the cases that he is obsessed with is the Amityville case. And we were both in the same documentary about the Amityville case that was on Tuby. And so I want to ask him, you know, what he thinks about that and his theories on what happened there and because there's there's a lot there's a lot to that story than just the whole idea that oh the I heard the less has made it up. There's a lot more to it than just that. So maybe we'll get to talk to him about that stuff too. But certainly we'll talk to him about Poison, about rock and roll, and about the show coming up at the vault. So 5089960500 is the number to call in and chime in. Of course, you can call in and speak to the council president. He is on his way in. And then we will also have at 9:00 a.m. New Bedford Mayor John Mitchell with Chris McCarthy on South Coast now. So a little bit of an earlier edition of midweek with the mayor this week. There's a lot going on. So, the mayor is going to be in here early and he'll be joining Chris and taking your calls. Also, a reminder, too, that we are all off on Friday. So, you'll have some network programming right up until 9:00 p.m. when we will have our big fireworks broadcast, the stars and star spangled soundtrack, we're calling it. The music that will accompany the fireworks and synchronize to the fireworks. They'll also be doing it downtown on speakers, but if you can't hear it downtown, that's why we're going to be carrying it on the radio so that no matter where you are looking up at those fireworks, you'll be able to hear this music. I just got an app chat message said, "I saw Poison in 1986. They were phenomenal then. They're still phenomenal now. I wish they would come back and tour once again." I agree, Jerry. I agree. I'd like to see them come back, and I'm sure they will. I'm sure they'll figure it out. It's not animosity amongst them. It's just a It's a It's a business decision. But I like that you saw them in 1986. I I was too young to go to concerts then. I think we were going to like Beach Boys concerts when I was eight years old. But I remember hearing that album and being like, "Oh, I like these guys. And even when Hair Metal kind of fell out of favor a little bit, you know, they were still the band that was that's trying to make their way through that and say, "Okay, we're going to we're going to put down the hairspray. We're going to put down the makeup because we're a good band and we just want to be known as such." And then they came out with some really good music. My favorite poison song, Something to Believe In and Unskinny Pop. Those are my two favorites. But I'm sure you'll get to hear those in addition to the Look What the Cat dragged in album. So, why don't I take my break now so that when the council president comes in, we can go with some uninterrupted time and your calls at 5089960500. So, I'll get that break in and we'll be back in a few moments. There's no better way to celebrate July 4th than front row fireworks views and dancing along the San Francisco skyline with City Cruises. Get out on the water and save 20% on select cruises in honor of America's 250th anniversary. Enjoy delicious meals, live DJ entertainment, and epic festivities on the San Francisco Bay. Skip the crowds and take in the fresh air. Save 20% at citycruises.com/ San Francisco. How's Tommy doing now? Much better. You said it was asthma. Yeah, he started with this cough and then he was wheezing. That's terrifying. Doctors said hidden triggers can make it worse. Things like dust, mold, and even pests. Pests? Yeah. Droppings and allergens from cockroaches and rodents can seriously impact children with asthma or allergies. I had no idea. We're making sure our home stays pestfree. Don't let pests put your family's health at risk. Visit pestworld.org to learn more. a public service message from the National Pest Management Association. Maybe it was a family vacation or a school field trip, but there you were standing in awe at a national park. We are the National Park Foundation. And together with you, we're creating a future where every person, every generation gets their chance at an unforgettable moment. Today, tomorrow, forever. Donate at nationalparks.org/f. Today on the pod, we're talking to Joan, a method actor and scratchers enthusiast. So Joan, what do you like about playing scratchers? Well, as a method actor, it's about becoming the ticket. Scratching up, down, stage left, stage right. So So what's your motivation? Because your performance feels so real. Oh, I was just tapping into my inner scratchers. Incredible. Yes. Bravo me. Scratchers from the California Lottery. A little play can make your day. Please play responsibly. Must be 18 years or older to purchase play or claim. Broadcasting live from the Carefree Home studios. This is WBSM Carefree Homes, your home improvement experts. Roofing, sighting, windows, and more. Get a free quote at carefreehomes company.com. Carefreeomes, trusted, local, family. And welcome back in. We are joined now by New Bedford City Council President Ryan Pereira. Good morning, sir. How you doing? I'm great. How are you, Tim? Doing all right. How has the week been this week in the the postcut night glow? The postcut night glow. Yes, it was a good week. I think overall we've had very productive meetings across the board. We obviously had our cut uh uh it would be now last Monday, right? Last Monday night. Yep. And I think we made some serious headway for uh in in in doing what we needed to do with um finding some savings in there to maybe restore some services and alleviate some pressures off the taxpayers. But at the end of the day, I think that we are positioned now better than ever. Uh our cuts that we made were probably in in my tenure as a city councilor very d most directed cuts we've ever made with direct we don't want this we don't want this direct line item cuts which I think now it's up to the mayor to implement those or not but we gave mayor a very clear pathway to follow in regards to the cuts and I I'm looking forward to uh working over the next uh year and the next fiscal year and implementing those cuts. and and seeking any adjustments that might be needed. Uh counselors spoke at the at the beginning of the meeting that you know the intention here was to find the money to keep station 9 open and nobody was being you know that was they were very open about that that that was the idea. Do you think that there is a danger in going into cut with a a target number in mind of you know we've got to find this money for this purpose? Does that or or do you think that that can actually be more directive in how you're handling things? I I would worry that it's almost like you were going into the meeting saying we're going to find $2 million and maybe you find $2 million, but it might not have been $2 million you could have should have found. Yeah. So, I I completely agree with your sentiment. I think that that is a cautionary issue that I have. However, what I would add is that I can I can reassure that my $1.9 million worth of cuts that I submitted had nothing to do uh were all cuts that would have been made whether or not the fire station was closed or open or going to be closed or opened. So, I think that at the end of the day, what we what we need to do is continue to tighten our uh uh belts where we can get better with the numbers. Uh we had some serious issues I think in the estimates for electricity I think were way off. I think gas and diesel when they were building this were uncertain with the issues in Iran and the Middle East and now we're seeing things calming and gas prices are are hopefully going to start trending down soon. Um that's my hope and that will result in savings. So what what I did on a lot of these utilities um electric bills, gas and diesel for the vehicles, it's let's reduce and come back to me if you need it, but right now let's reduce it. I I think the electric I think the electric uh utility bill budget was way over proportion. Uh we reduced that by $500,000. um with the mind you just we just saved last year's an approximate $250,000. So, and then they budgeted for a sharp increase because electric bills have gone up. Yes, fair enough. However, I'm I'm hoping and and and planning ahead that we're going to have some more stabilized markets and and utility prices will stabilize a little bit more. If that all occurs, then we're good. If it doesn't and we do need to fix it and put the money back, the city council has committed like I did on the floor on Monday to to restoring some of those funds. But those are some areas where we were able to reduce almost a quarter of threequarters of a million dollars just in utility bills. So in in years recent years, uh it's been an 11 million cut night, then a $10 million cut, and this year was about a $2 million cut. Does that speak to the, you know, this budget being a little bit leaner, the the the mayor doing a good job with his team of putting this together as close to the bone as they could? Yeah, I think for the most part across the board, the budget was pretty lean. I think that speaks that speaks uh uh dividends when when looking at those past historic numbers. The other thing I think that we took into account was that we heard from department head to department head about sacrifices that they made. That sacrifice is a strong word, but I'll give you this position. Um, okay. This is a vacant position. Don't refill it. We we'll do our part here. And and we we talked about uh the traffic commission uh one of the the um parking attendants who who gave in who she didn't replace because uh uh she wanted to do her part to fix the budget for a lack of better word. And we heard about that from department. So how much can these departments take? Well, we did look at uh certain departments have with a new position. We did look at we and we took that away. We did look at redundancies in management. um redundancies that were created without council approval, which I think is a big one, which was a there was a police department, chief of staff of the police department, which I think was created uh which was created without council approval because this person is the the official title, excuse me, because I don't have it in front of me, but the official title is something like assistant uh assistant director of administrative and operation processes or something like that. What what does that have to do with being a chief of staff? It doesn't. They just didn't want to go through the process of creating a position that the council would have legislative oversight. And so they just rammed it in by giving them a chief of staff position that pays very very high. That that is not okay. Legis the legislative process can never be circumvented. That is something I have stood by for the past 5 years. I will stand by for as many years as I continue to serve. And and and by the way, not to interrupt you, but we're talking about a position that was created when uh when assistant deputy chief Belong was promoted to deputy chief, which deputy chief had been a vacant position. Correct. And now they filled that position and basically said we're going to take the duties of a deputy chief and split it into two. Right. Which might have merit. It might deserve consideration, but the council needs to have that consideration. But now you've got two people in a position that was unfilled previously. Correct. Right. And so this two, if you just go back quickly, three years ago, uh maybe even two years ago, you had a chief and a deputy chief. That's it. Mhm. Today, you have a chief, a deputy chief, two assistant deputy chiefs, and this ad and this administrative uh assistant director. So you went from having two managerial positions to having five, right? in the snap of a finger. That to me needs more oversight. Um and and so the the the city council went out and we made reductions there to better uh uh what we feel represent uh the need of the department from what we hear from, you know, members of the department as well as uh fiscal concerns that this council has about going from two to five in a blink of an eye where we should be maybe building this up slowly over time. now in in if the cuts that you put in for that were implemented. Basically, what we're saying is this person who just started a job a few months ago is now out of a job. Does does that do you I mean, how does that look to people that are coming to the city to you know, we're trying to get talent to fill in some of these positions that do have to be filled. How does that look to those talent when it says, you know, you your job might not be safe past uh past cut? It's true. It's true. It's not a great look. There's no way around it. But this all falls back to the fact that the legislative authority was circumvented. Uh and and at the end of the day, uh it it's funny because you you we hear a lot of times, you know, whether it's the confirmation of the police chief himself. And I was going to say it's strange that this happened after you went through the confirmation drama. The council had to uh assert some authority by by proposing a a a lawsuit with the administration against the administration for not putting that forward. yet we confirm the police chief. The administration gives us a hard time about um sending down items. Oh, I don't know. You know, it's like always trying to get around the council, but yet the council for the most part agrees with the mayor for the most part. Overwhelming majority, we agree with the mayor. But those few instances where we disagree with him gets blown way out of proportion all the time by this administration. that it's consistent cuz I would say if I was a betting man, I mean, think of all the the zoning proposals he came down. He he sent down, every single one passed. Every single one passed with great discussion, great vision, great comments from my colleagues to help continue to build on what was presented to us. Some changes were made, but any time that there was something that that the mayor believes he can just get one over on the council, he takes that. And that's not fair all the time, especially when we agree so much. I think that gets that gets shadowed by the the the 10 15% time we disagree. It it's just it's just not something that should how government should work. So when it comes So I don't mean to cut you off, but No, no, go ahead. When it comes to that person who if the cut is implemented will get laid off, uh that that's on the administration. So, I used to have these conversations with council Morad when she was the council president that, you know, obviously she had a contentious relationship with the mayor and that causes some friction, but I I don't think that you do and I don't think that most of the folks on the council have a f, you know, a fractured relationship with the mayor. So, why is it that there can't be more of a, hey, this is what I'm going to do. Okay. Hey, I think it's going to pass through. Okay, fine. And then you just follow the process. Why is it that he feels he needs to to be combative with the council? I I I can't speak for him. You know, uh he he's going to be here on the next hour and hopefully your colleague asked that question because at the end of the day, you know, the council, we're not going to agree all the time and and it can be difficult working with a lot of egos. I I can speak I can say that honestly. We all have egos and it's very difficult to work with them, myself included. But what I will say is that I I do think I have a decent relationship with the mayor and yet things are still trying to get passed back by and worked around rather than just hey this is what we're thinking about doing. Uh uh let's go for it. But and and your odds are pretty good that the council is going to agree with you because I'd say it's 85 90% of the time. And at that on those other 10% call us, have us come in. uh we went in for meetings with the mayor uh on the budget. Now, I did not find them overly productive at all, but meetings were had, discussions were made, and at the end of the day, normally you you gave those numbers about those only $2 million was cut from the budget. I mean, we still had a press release put out saying that we were all right. I was I was going to ask you about that. That these are unimplementable cuts. No, that that is so far from the truth. It's not even funny. I I honestly don't know where the mayor got his information on that one. These are these are some of the most uh uh uh implementable cuts I have ever been a part of in my five years. What I would say is, you know, I I pulled it up in front of me so that I can kind of uh uh speak to it. We talked about the utility bills and how energy prices hopefully will stabilize, but if not, we can put the money back. I'd just rather be right on the button when we're in such a tight fiscal year than overestimate and have money just lying around there. So, let's let's let's undercut it. Let's do some projections and then let's let's hit it right on the head when we need to. we can we can adjust this uh uh uh almost free entirely freely until de the beginning of December. Then after that, we can still adjust it with some other nuanced ways of of getting around that. Um he spoke about $200,000 to uh vehicles uh uh gas and diesel. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe maybe we have to figure out how how these vehicles are being run and operated around the city, but more than that, gas prices are going to start falling. We're going to have some savings there. The other uh we're seeing that happen already. The other thing was $150,000 to state's unemployment fund. Now, CFO Extramm stood up in front of us and said that this was based on the number of layoffs that they were anticipating having. So, every employee being laid off. That was very early on in the budget process. We're talking that was 2 and a half to probably 3 months ago that this was all really looked at. At least May 13th when the May budget was proposed. Fast forward to today, we have heard from those folks who have been or are going to be laid off. High number of them are actually going to just retire. They don't need unemployment insurance. I know high number of those employees are going to just simply choose retirement. Specifically from the city side, not the public safety side, but the city side. Um folks are going to just choose retirement than being laid off. So we don't have to pay unemployment insurance for those choosing their retirement package. That is a savings. Why would we overfund it? It doesn't make sense. It doesn't There is no logic to it. He also spoke about uh $36,000 cut to some cyber security in the MIS department uh the IT department. Um last time we made a cut to that department, we found out we were paying for so many emails on folks who don't need a city email. So that was an adjustment made. Where else are there's there's an adjustment? And mind you, those previous year cuts were much much deeper and sharper than this $36,000 cut that can absolutely be managed. It it is a little bit tougher in it. I will even though it's 36,000 on a $1 million I believe um close to it if not no a little bit less um budget in the IT department. But uh where else are there redundancies in licensing for software? Where is there redundancies in city emails being used or or word documents? uh uh Word, Microsoft Word, these subscriptionbased services that you can easily, and I know because I have one person I'm looking after myself, and I forget about subscriptions sometimes, too. I think we all do. Um where else are these subscriptions being uh uh uh overrun that we don't need. So, there's some belt tightening to do there. Yeah. I mean, and sometimes you find out you're paying for, you know, five individual licenses when one group license would cover everybody. I say that all the time, and I think that's something that we're going to look at. All right, let's take a call here. 5089960500. Good morning. You were on with the council president. Uh good morning, uh council president. Good morning, uh Tim. Good morning. Uh I have uh a couple questions I wanted to bring up and then I'll jump offline and and listen to them was uh I don't know. I always thought that the police chief should have been um hired from within the department allow you know to allow the police officers the opportunity to become a police chief of their own department at one time and the mayor was against that commit special commission or whatever it was. They hired the guy from uh Connecticut and now he's taken over. Now we we're we're going to go for more bureaucrats within the police department. You know, we're shutting down a fire station cuz we don't have any money, but we're going to take on a a bunch of overpaid bureaucrats probably from Harvard. Um and you know, this is why why do we need more? We got plenty of them. I worked for the city for many years. I know for a fact most of these people are overpaid, underworked, and they don't money they get. Uh the uh the other uh issue that I wanted to talk about was you just cutting out a little bit on us. Oh. Oh. Oh, okay. Sorry. I guess that's better. Yeah. One of the one of the other things that uh it sounds like the city council is a rubber stamp on me, you know. Um and that's something that we need to, you know, if we're going to have I I'm I'm against the 4-year term for the mayor. I think that that should be eradicated. We need to go back to two-year term for the mayor. And uh and also where is the audit of the city of the uh city? And one of the things I always had a question on is my taxes have almost tripled since 2017. But yet I don't believe that the uh offshore wind was being charged for the dock space that they were getting down there on the waterfront. I know fishing industry is charged doc based and why wasn't why didn't we get charged that and why didn't the city council look into that you know so I'll jump up with sure so uh a few of your points because there there was quite a bit but I'll just go through a few of them so yeah uh in regards to the police chief you know the council's role in this is to see the person submitted by the administration look at that individual is that qualified. Is that someone we want that is okay to run the department? We really don't have a right um by law to look at other options. Oh, we should have gone with this one or that one. That's not really uh uh our purview. Our purview is to put look at the mayoral appointment before us and vote on that, interview that person and vote on that person. And so when when when Chief Doie was put before the council, it was made clear uh evidently clear from the beginning that he is well qualified to to run and lead this police department. So there was no um I don't think there was an issue that way. And the the sentiment I do share with the caller that that it is nice to see someone from New Beford uh climb the ranks and and become the chief of this department. And that is something that I would love to see continue in the future and hope that continues. But at this point in time, uh the our role is just to look at the person right in front of us. Uh you know, as far as the bureaucrats in the police department, you know, I'm I'm not going to speak to uh that their jobs aren't necessary. I don't know that. And that is the problem, right? That is the problem. That's the point. The point is that I we were not able to look into this, see if it's a a problem, interview, question, in investigate. That is the problem. So, we need to roll it back, cut it out, and come back before us the proper way. Um, you know, a couple of the points he made about the uh uh uh rubber stamp for the mayor. I I I don't think it's a rubber stamp. Most things are investigated thoroughly, but it most things that the mayor puts forward, a lot of the things that the mayor puts forward um has merit to it and things need to be tweaked and and I'm not saying that things don't get amended. Look at the um the recall petition that was uh amended. the mayor presented something. We agreed on the principle of a recall, but we needed to change a few things to make it uh work a little bit better for uh what we believed for our constituents. We made those changes. Look at um the budget. We agree we need a city budget. We agree that uh the this is where we're at and these are the things that we should be funding, but how much we fund them were reduced. And I think that's what that's that's collaborative effort. So when I said, you know, 80 95 90% of the stuff is passed, I'm talking, yeah, that passed, but they might be amended, but that is government. That is compromise. That is what this government is founded on. And so, like you said, the, you know, the mayor is presenting things that that do have merit. And I think there's a there's an assumption here from a lot of the the listeners, the callers, the voters that the mayor is just, you know, kind of doing what he wants. But I I think he puts a thoughtful analysis into what it is that he's doing. It's just how sustainable are those things for New Bedford at this time is is where the the question lies. 100% 100%. You know, we're in a tight fiscal year and and before us was put forward a new a new position and we have a lot of upper management and and pos many many positions reclassified. Um you know, I'm I'm still looking we're still looking into that. uh the the audit of the city as the caller brought up before. I'm waiting to see what the inspector general's office uh uh makes of that. I I don't know where that stands in the process, but I will uh follow up and and continue following up on that. But internally, the city's audit committee uh which has uh which is a fivep person member committee that I I chaired uh two years ago and started looking doing look backs on quarterly reports and trends and stuff for the city. And that's something that we're we're looking to probably bring up and start investigating how did we get to this spot and where are we? Yeah. Because the important thing here is it could happen again. Like we're in a we're not in any better economy in this fiscal year than we were last year. And so as such, you know, you want to keep an eye on those things. Uh have you been able to make any kind of determinations about, you know, rough ideas of of what you think happened? So, one thing I will say is that the $32 million gap, if you account for that, that takes into account over $14 million worth of enhancements that department heads have asked for. So, if you said no enhancements, that wouldn't have been a $32 million gap. It probably would have been closer to a $16 million, $18 million gap or $17 million gap, which is still a lot, but it probably maybe a little bit more manageable. So it really I think it was uh uh while accurate to say $32 million gap, it was also misleading because almost half of that money almost half were included department head enhancements or department enhancement requests. And so so just to break it down a little simpler for people so they can follow along. So basically what you're saying is $32 million deficit about half of that came from these are things we're going to ask for not things that we have right now not things that we need to keep paying for things we want to add in. Correct. So yeah that is that is a little bit of a misleading stat and and it's accurate but it is just misleading. And so if you remember we're not coming up $32 million short from where we were the year before. Right. that in. So what that does show to me is a couple things is first that this this issue and this deficit wasn't did not show up uh was not on the radar early enough because if you knew you were in a hole, why would you allow department heads to submit enhancement requests? I would say no enhancements or maybe it's just a different managerial style. I don't know what the mayor's thinking was on that. But what I will say is moving forward, uh, if you took those that 14 and so million dollars out, you know, you're left with that $17 million range and and that seems a little bit more manageable. And some of that is predictable increase in the pension, you're going to have that. But what I will tell you is at $17 million, we could have funded that, no problem. you know, so there were a lot of issues uh um moving things around to get things to to to happen and then decisions were made and and priorities were made and people were were let go because of it. Let's uh take some calls here. Good morning. You're on with the council president. Oh, hey Tim. Just a quick question. Um any word about the Pizza Hut? I saw just saw a thing on Facebook from F107. Uh no, I haven't heard anything about it. All right. Thank you, Tim. All right. Have a good day. And he's he's anxiously awaiting the the new Pizza Hut to open. Oh. So, we're waiting we're waiting for that on on Mount Pleasant there next to the D'Angelos. It's going to be a I guess a Pizza Hut buffet. Are they going to bring back the salad the the salad buffet? I I I don't know if they're going to have the salad bar, but there they're supposed to be a buffet. I don't know what the plan is because I I did like the salad. That was one of my favorite things. I'm just looking forward to another fountain soda and the red cup, the red plastic cup. All right. You were on with the council president. Good morning. Yeah, good morning, Tim. Good morning, Council Pereira. Good morning. You know, this mayor uh doesn't want to take blame for what's happened in our city. He's added 40 administrators. Uh he's fiscally irresponsible. And before the $32 million, we knew about that gap. He wanted to spend $100 million on a a new police station on Cogsaw Street and with no federal and state funding. He's completely irresponsible. I know it is a fact that we have uh re seen cuts in state aid uh and and while that's happening meanwhile the state has year over year has been spending 50% uh year over year and we're not seeing it here. So this mayor wants to wash his hands like punches pilot and say uh that it's a city counseling basically that you guys are bumbling fools. Uh he's he's he's blaming uh the state cutting state aid. But yet when Mora Healey came here, she's the best uh that's ever happened to the city and she's helped us out. So he's a walking contradiction. What the the reality is that many people are going to lose their homes. Going to be tax leans. The rents are going to go up because you can only absorb so much as a homeowner within reason. And with uh property insurance going up on expenses, that's going to get passed on and people are going to be displaced. So this mayor I I wanted to come on next hour with Chris and say yes he's part of the blame while the why why the city's where it is. And the thing is every time at the comes towards the end he at the last minute right he said bets submits his version of the budget and then he tries to squeeze all these supplementals. How often does it happen that he's trying to squeeze all supplementals and shuffling money around into different departments and saying it's one thing and another? I'll hang up and then let you answer. Sure. Yeah. So, supplemental appropriations uh which uh are are relatively uh uh now common. It wasn't so much before, but that might have been, you know, that was could have been in a large part to some of this. Let's cut below and and see where we land the transfers, the colors, right? There were tons of transfers departments. Uh uh but that is a common thing. That's a common theme throughout from my understanding. You know, granted, I've only been a city council for 5 years, but speaking with more veteran counselors or um you know, uh uh uh clerk Ferris, who was a city counselor, attorney Geratowski were city councilors, uh clerk Lawrence, speaking with them, transfers have happened right along. We used to actually get a lot of transfers in January and February, uh from my understanding because the department started trending bad, trending in the wrong direction. So, in order to make up for it, you started transferring earlier. Now, with that all being said, uh one thing I will say that is nice is that last year was the first time uh in in in recent history that no account ran a deficit, which is illegal. That is a Mass General law violation. I just hope that that trend continues and and we heard comments from the mayor's chief of staff on that. I hope that uh you know he he basically said that he's going to ignore um the council's cut in in the mayor's office and I we we do have uh so I just hope that it's um uh we don't break the law in doing so. All right, callers, hang on. We are going to get to you. I got a very quick break and we'll be back with the council president in about two minutes. Broadcasting live from the Carefree Home studios. This is WBSM. Carefree Homes, your home improvement experts. Roofing, siding, windows, and more. Get a free quote at carefreehomes company.com. Carefree Homes, trusted, local, family. All right, we are back with Council President Pereira. Let's go back to the phones. And good morning. You are on next with the council president. Good morning, gentlemen. Morning, Gilly Satiololis. Morning, Gilly. Good morning, uh, Mr. President. But I have a question. This is has to do with the city council. Sure. You know, you say that you guys work together and everything and uh all this stuff, but there was a meeting last night, Brian Gome's committee on public safety and neighborhoods. Yes. Supposed to be at 7:00. The meeting got cancelled. You know why, Mr. President? You know why it got cancelled? No, I'm not the chairman. But you are the president. Yes. Okay. Now, the meeting was cancelled because there was only three city consulates. Brian Gomes, Scott Hamilton, and Leo Shaet. Out of 11 city councils didn't show up. They were supposed to be there to represent the people. Okay. So, they had to cancel it. Well, everybody else that was invited like Dave Geratosski, the chief the chief of police which Mr. Big was representing and everything. There's other people sitting here like Jimmy from U Kelly. I don't want to rush you along here, but I got other callers. So, we just we want to keep it as tight as we can. Let me I can't have my three minutes at least with You can keep it tighter is what I'm saying. Well, I'm trying to give me the three minutes and then we just I don't have to I don't have to give you anything. Don't tell me what to do. Get to your question, please. The question is, why weren't they there? They get paid. They get paid. Where was it? And besides, you know what else is going on there, Mr. president about how people the citizens I'm being, you know, notified that they're going to be kicked off the list because the the the city is breaking the law about notifying people about the voting rights and everything. Did you know that? I I I I don't know what you're talking about. Sorry, I don't know what you're I'm not following that. Say that again, Gilly. Ask Ask Ask Joe Lope because he filed the motion. The bottom line is that was a meeting and it was three city council. That's a shame. Everybody else and Brian Gomes dismissed it after like 710 and he and we're with it. They get paid. They get P. Anybody else would have been So what I will say what I what I will say Gilly is that you know obviously our meetings are some of the most important things that we do as a job. But the other thing that we do as a job is represent the community at events. And last night we had uh uh the flag raising the Cape Verdian flag raising to kick off uh uh uh uh Cape Verdian recognition month. Cape Verdian recognition month and also a very a very big week with the parade on on Sunday this year. Sunday uh is the parade uh with the fourth with Saturday being the 4th of July. So we have we have we have you know obviously the uh council has multiple roles that we have to play and including representing the community at various events. And so at that point in time uh uh if if it was made a determination to if we make a determination let him answer wait till he finishes his answer. If it makes a determination and the chair at that point was like well uh you know something it's going to be maybe tough to get a a quorum or I'm going to this is this can be pushed out another couple weeks then let's do that and and and just help balance schedule. It's it can be especially around this time of year uh with budget cuts the budget sessions and everything. This is a very busy time of year and at that point the discretion of the chair always supersedes. You know the chair especially this chair who's such a veteran counselor he has a sense of it and and if that was the decision that was made then that's that's I guarantee you it was it was a great decision to be made. Ryan, please I understand that. Where was the flag raised? City Hall. Oh, so all those city councils that were outside, they couldn't walk come in here at 7:00, where did they raise the flag? If they were out, if they raised the flag, you're using an excuse. You a political answer you just gave. Okay. The problem is there was only three city council. Well, sometimes people political answer is the right answer. The political answer is the right. You just killed a lot of time. The bottom line is it was only three city councilors there. They didn't care. They came afterwards. You had Naomi Connie come in, Mr. Burggo come in and Roy at 7:15. Yeah. I I just can't be, you know, there was a meeting. They was dismissed. So, like I said, I'm interested. I'm almost The only thing I'm interested is why are you guys violating notifying the people on the voter list? It's a state law. You guys have been violating not notifying the people on the voter list for what? For what? No, like what I I I just I I don't know what you're talking about. I I can look into it. I I honestly don't know what Well, everybody's looking into it. Low Virgo and everything. I lo made a motion about that. They they cancelled the money for the for the um many British thing before he got on. It wasn't many British. This has been going on since two 2014. All right. Yeah, I'll I'll have to look into it, Kelly. I I'm I'm just not Well, there be more coming to it because for River does it. Okay. They sent things out. All right. I'm going to hold you there just because I got to get a break in here and I want to try to get these callers in. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Let me take this break. Callers, hang on. We'll try to get to you as soon as we come back. Real quick break. All right, let's see if we can lightning round these calls. So, I'm just going to ask you to be very direct with your question for Council President Pereira. Good morning. You're on with the council president. Good morning. I'll make this quick and I'll hang up. I think in defense of the mayor, I think the thing he was criticizing a little bit was that during your negotiations, I hear nothing about the two elephants in the room, which are healthcare and pensions, which I think he thinks is a long-term better solution. So, I'm going to hang up. What is your influence over both of those things to to have sustained savings over a period of time? And thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So, uh, I'm sorry if I never articulated that, but that was my two big points when talking with the mayor was, uh, listen, uh, we hear, so the PE is is the, uh, uh, public employee committee that handles the health insurance and and the the the plan that is is based around the health insurance. And I have heard from members of the PEC and the union in general that the mayor and the city never bring any recommendations to them other than submitting to the city council sections 21 and uh 21 and 23 for healthcare reform. Why don't you try and negotiate with the peek to hey we need some cost savings on this. Let's look at this. Let's look at that. And they just don't do it. So, I don't know if if this Loctton, who is our administr who is our um excuse me, consultants don't do a good job or the administration just because it's not about saving money on health insurance. That's about a power play that the mayor wants. So, that's that's all 21 and 23 does is open a power play because if it was about money, he would negotiate. And I told the mayor, "Put me in. Send me to go try and see what I can come up with." He he thinks that that's an executive it is an executive function. So he is the only one that would be allowed to do that. But he could designate me to go and he never did. The same with the the the I I've been in talks with the um with the retirement board about looking at once we get the actuarial study maybe push out the funding schedule a little bit to help alleviate some the burden on the taxpayers of the city. And I think that there's some interest in that. Um but that's still more conversations to have on that. But those two things are the the color is right. The two biggest issues and I brought up both of those and was basically dismissed by the mayor. So the the mayor is going to bring up sections 21 23 again. He's going to ask you again to take it up and you're saying that probably won't happen until he tries this other step first. Yeah. He he he needs to negotiate with the pack. I I'm aware that he went and had a few meetings with them or a meeting with them. I don't know the outcome of that. Those are closed door meetings. That is an executive uh uh uh uh privilege that the executive has. And at that point in at this point in time though, up until this point, he has never once brought forward any negotiated any ideas or cost-saving measures to the pack. Not one in in the five years I've been a city councelor. All right. Well, callers, I'm sorry we couldn't get to you, but we're just about out of time. I guess we'll we'll see you on Monday. Is Yes. That works for you. All right. So, Monday. So, hang on to your questions. We'll we'll be back in less than a week and you want to stick around for Chris McCarthy in South Coast now because now there's going to be a very awkward transition in the hallway as council president Pereira is leaving and Mayor Mitchell is coming in to be today on the pod. We're talking to Joan, a method actor and scratchers enthusiast. So Joan, what do you like about playing scratchers? Well, as a method actor, it's about becoming the ticket. Scratching up, down, stage left, stage right. So So what's your motivation? Because your performance feels so real. Oh, I was just tapping into my inner scratchers. Incredible. Yes, bravo me. Scratchers from the California lottery. A little play can make your day. Please play responsibly. must be 18 years or older to purchase player claim.