Policy Issues and Initiatives
Over the course of any given fiscal year, the Town opines on issues large and small, whether through Select Board initiatives, Town Meeting warrant articles, or other less formal channels. This section can’t be an exhaustive record of those positions, but it aims to provide a summary of the key initiatives and priorities that drive the spending decisions reflected in the Budget, CIP, and Long-Range Financial Plan. After all, finance is an expression of policy. What we spend money on as a community reflects our values.
Sustainable, Smart, & Equitable Development
This broad policy aim has two interlocking facets: addressing climate change and increasing economic growth. Brookline continues to be a global leader in implementing policies that aim to have the community reach zero greenhouse gas emissions by as early as 2040. The Select Board is seeking to use almost $4M in ARPA funding to help transition our fleet away from gas vehicles, develop long-term plans for charging infrastructure, and provide assistance to individuals/businesses who want to understand the next steps on how to reduce or eliminate their greenhouse gas footprint. And the newly-constituted Zero Emissions Advisory Board (“ZEAB”) has continued to partner with our Sustainability Director and other stakeholders to translate hypothetical goals into meaningful actions.
In the past year, Town Meeting adopted the new state Specialized Energy Code that further tightens the ability to build new “mixed fuel” structures and signaled its intent to serve as one of ten communities that will be authorized by the state to pilot a new energy code (the so-called “Ten Towns Code”) that eliminates fossil fuel power from all new construction.
In order for a community to qualify for the Ten Towns Code pilot, however, it will likely need to have more than 10% of its total existing and upcoming housing units qualify as restricted to low- and moderate-income residents on the state’s Subsidized Housing Inventory (“SHI”). Brookline is perilously close to slipping below that point, in part because of our high regulatory barriers to entry and community opposition to new multi-family housing. And once Brookline slips below that number, developers will once again have the authority to pursue projects virtually “as of right” under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40B, provided that at least 25% of the proposed units meet the SHI requirements.
To minimize the time spent under the SHI minimum, as well as balance the need to diversify the community’s tax base through mixed-use growth with the desire to maintain Brookline’s historic character, the Select Board is pursuing possibilities along multiple avenues. Perhaps most visibly, it is supporting both a multi-year update to Brookline’s Comprehensive Plan (last undertaken in 2005) and an effort to develop a form-based zoning pilot along Harvard Street that would satisfy the hypothetical density requirements of the new MBTA Communities Act while keeping the area’s commercial and residential appeal intact. Where the MBTA Communities Act’s guidelines conflict with the best outcomes for a rezoned Harvard Street, the Town will work collaboratively with neighboring communities and the State to change or seek waivers from them.
Town Meeting also passed a warrant article championed by several Brookline High School students calling for an analysis of how an affordable housing overlay district might be used to incentivize new development for low- to moderate-income residents. And one plank of the proposed operating override is increased capacity for the Planning Department that would allow it to take on more than one major “corridor” re-envisioning project simultaneously, per the recommendations of the Brookline Fiscal Advisory Committee (“BFAC”).
This fall, the Community Preservation Act Committee will make its first allocations from a pool of over $6M in additional funds for community priorities in the allowable categories of open space, historic preservation, community housing, and recreation. All four of these areas provide new discrete opportunities for smart, community-driven growth. As with the most recent round of ARPA requests, the Town aims to centralize and provide a curated list of municipal priorities to the Committee that leaves ample room for projects and input proposed by community members.
All of these efforts are being filtered through a framework that prioritizes equitable outcomes. Historically disadvantaged and marginalized communities that have been unable to participate in Brookline’s robust volunteer-based government must be meaningfully consulted and provided the support necessary to ensure they are also beneficiaries of the Town’s prudent and steady advance towards a sustainable future.
Proposed “Base” Town Override Plan
The Select Board does not take the decision to present an operating override to the public lightly. It is a request for the community to voluntarily pay more in property taxes. Wherever possible, staff has identified savings and alternative sources of funding to both close the current operating gap as much as possible and finance new initiatives. We continue to review and evaluate options involving the use of funds from the IIJA, the Inflation Reduction Act, and Statewide initiatives.
The breakdown of the Town’s current master proposal (subject to change prior to Select Board approval) is laid out in the tables below describing the total cost, one-time costs, and recurring costs covered by alternative sources of funding or through the proposed override. All told, over $5.3M in one-time funds and just under $1M of recurring expenses in the “base” proposal are covered through sources other than a property tax increase:
The Town’s ultimate aims in executing this plan if an override passes are to:
- Maintain the services we already provide by eliminating our structural operating deficit;
- Restore critical services that were cut during the pandemic;
- Make our roads safe and resilient for all users while freeing up resources for comprehensive “complete streets” planning;
- Invest in increased planning capacity so we can grow sustainably as a community, strengthen our commercial property tax base, and rely less on overrides in the future;
- Fund long-term solutions to our waste disposal and pest control problems;
- Take concrete steps towards our fossil-fuel-free future;
- Preserve our critical natural resources, especially our unique tree canopy;
- Provide expanded services to vulnerable populations, including seniors and non-English speakers;
- Reorganize key municipal departments to make them more efficient; and
- Pay competitive wages to Town employees so we can attract and retain talent that will provide the best services possible to the community.
We have detailed the cuts that will be undone in the event an override is successful at the outset of this Plan. Below are descriptions of how new “base” override funding would be used:
Streetscape Transformation: $2.1M (plus $100k in proposed increased parking fees)
Per the 2022 Transportation/Mobility Plan: “$5 million a year in roadway maintenance is required in order to maintain the overall condition of the roadway network in the current condition.” But the current year-over-year funding level is only $2.8M, meaning our roadways are deteriorating every year. When they inevitably fail, the cost to replace them is far higher than the cost would have been to repair or conduct preventive maintenance on them earlier. And so, rather than mortgage the present to pay more in the future, a successful override vote will ensure, at the end of a three-year ramp-up period, that there is enough money in the budget to, at minimum, maintain the present state.
In reality, of course, this means one-time discretionary spending that would have inevitably gone to those emergency repair projects will become increasingly available for the sorts of transformational complete streets projects the Transportation/Mobility Plan contemplates. Sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and other multi-modal considerations will no longer always have to give way to car-centric CIP items out of necessity.
Salary Shifts: $500,000
We estimate based on our preliminary analyses that it will cost approximately $325,000 to bring non-union technical and management salaries that lag behind our peer communitiees up to within 5% of the average. The remaining amount in the override will be used for either (1) “ripple effects” such as reclassifications of other positions and supervisor rate increases; or (2) further increasing the salaries of highly competitive/difficult-to-recruit positions where we want to prioritize retention.
Building Department Reorganization: $235,000
We need to invest in the long-term health of the Building Department. Major retirements in recent years have led to a huge loss of institutional knowledge, and more are on the way. This provides us with an opportunity, however, to reorganize the department to increase redundancy and and ensure that responsibilities are more evenly spread.
The Department is working with our office and Human Resources to develop a new model, based on Wellesley’s Buildings Department, to effectuate these changes. A sample of the work in progress, showing the current and draft proposed structure of the Public Buildings Division, is below:
Public Works Fleet Replacement: $225,000 (plus $100k in proposed increased parking fees)
There is a massive pandemic-exacerbated backlog in the replacement of DPW’s heavy vehicle fleet, as the right table shows
Boosting the replacement budget by $325k will allow DPW to purchase an additional heavy vehicle each year. Where possible, especially as technology improves, these vehicles will run on alternative fuel sources.
Rodent Control Action Plan: $226,000 (plus $274k from other sources)
Community feedback ensured that less than half of the RCAP ask in the Financial Plan would be from override funds. The override will fund an enforcement specialist position at the Department of Public Health, plus the continuation of that Department’s pest control and food safety consultant contracts. In the event those contractual needs change, that additional funding will be used to supplement the ongoing purchasing of new solar-powered trash compactors and dumpsters.
Increased Planning Capacity: $223,000 (plus $742k in one-time ARPA money)
To diversify Brookline’s tax base and rely less on future overrides, the Planning Department must have enough resources to conduct and implement multiple large- and small-scale studies simultaneously, as BFAC recommends. This permanent increase in the Department’s budget, coupled with a one-time infusion of funds, will ultimately allow for two large-scale studies to be ongoing simultaneously (such as Comprehensive Plan drafting and a major corridor analysis) while still having bandwidth to address other crucial community questions (like how best to develop the Newbury College site).
Town Facilities Deferred Maintenance: $200,000
The pandemic forced a significant rerouting of money that ordinarily went to deferred maintenance. Now significant costs have accrued. As with the roads, addressing them preventatively now reduces the chance (and increased costs) of total system failures in the future.
Urban Forestry Management: $155,000 (plus $100k in proposed increased parking fees)
The cost of hiring contractors to do the vital work of protecting our urban tree canopy is continuing to rise. In FY 2004, $125,000 paid for 54 weeks of contractor services. In FY 2020, it didn’t even pay for 15.
This increased investment would allow the hiring of a tree warden, urban forest manager, and tree climber/bucket truck operator in the coming years, while initially assisting the Department of Public Works in purchasing a bucket truck for staff to use.
Language Access: $100,000
As discussed below, the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Community Relations (“ODICR”) is nearing the conclusion of a consultant-led analysis of the Town’s language access needs. Once that concludes, the Town wants to move expeditiously to bring on a full-time language access coordinator and provide them with the budget necessary to implement the consultant's recommendations.
Age-Friendly Services and Programs: $100,000 (in addition to $150,040 in one-time funds)
This budget increase would allow the Council on Aging to bring on a full-time geriatric social worker and increase its transportation budget significantly, potentially laying the groundwork for a “microtransit” pilot program that would significantly increase seniors’ ability to get around the community.
Farmers’ Market Coupon Program: $50,000
This would continue a popular ARPA-funded program that ensures our most vulnerable residents have subsidized access to healthy fresh food in a manner that does not stigmatize them or make them feel unwelcome.
Absorbing HCA-Funded Positions: $35,000 (beginning in FY26)
A new law significantly limits how Host Community Agreements (“HCAs”) between cannabis retailers and municipalities can generate revenue for the latter. HCAs also must now sunset within 8 years of a retailer opening. As a result, we are transitioning to a model that will fund the cost of cannabis mitigation activities through a license fee negotiated with the retailers, but will experience a slight shortfall in trying to keep 2.5 full-time positions that were funded with HCA dollars on the books.
Community Gatekeepers Outreach Program: $15,000
This would continue a new proposed ARPA-funded program that pays members of historically disadvantaged and hard-to-reach communities a modest stipend in exchange for their help with connecting vulnerable members of those communities (often with language issues and/or a historic distrust of government) with services. The potential for significant increase in positive community health outcomes for our most vulnerable residents when balanced with the relatively modest cost of the program counsels that we continue and grow it post-ARPA.
“Welcome to Brookline” Program: $6,000
This continues a proposed new ARPA-funded program that creates a detailed pamphlet in five different languages designed to concisely connect residents to community resources, particularly those that offer incentives for the reduction of residents’ emissions footprints.
Stand-Alone Override Programs
The Select Board is considering placing two additional stand-alone override requests on the ballot: namely, recreation scholarships for low- to moderate-income residents ($1M) and a composting program (up to $2.25M depending on whether user fees will be required). This reflects a desire to let the community decide on whether these programs, which have been frequently discussed throughout Town, are priorities at this time.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Despite a hostile national environment, Brookline remains committed to equity in contracting and procurement, particularly when it comes to identifying and remedying disparities with our partnerships with businesses owned and operated by members of historically disadvantaged communities (Disadvantaged Business Enterprises, or “DBEs”). Our online contracting portal at https://workwith.brooklinema.gov/ is intended to give DBEs and others interested in doing business with the Town guidance to minimize red tape and encourage repeat engagement.
Staff continues to work toward meaningful implementation of Town Meeting’s language access warrant article—ODICR engaged a consultant for an in-depth analysis of our needs and best practices moving forward. When that consultant’s work concludes later this spring, we will use their guidance to begin implementing a comprehensive language access program, subject to successful passage of the override.
Town Meeting passed a bylaw redefining aspects of ODICR’s work, particularly as it relates to its receipt and resolution of complaints, while also formally changing its name to the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Community Relations. Once that bylaw clears review at the Attorney General’s office, ODEICR will continue its efforts in uplifting and supporting marginalized or disadvantaged voices in the community.
Finally, assuming a successful override, a full-time communications position will move into the Select Board office, reporting to the Assistant Town Administrator for Operations and Director of ODEICR, reflecting the central importance of meaningful outreach to underserved and underheard communities.
Social Services
We continue to balance the community’s drive for a centralized model of providing social services with the need to meaningfully identify how best to operationalize such a model. A less formal analysis of centralized social services models begun in 2021 and delayed during the pandemic must now be supplanted by a more rigorous (but swift) community needs assessment. The Brookline Police Department will continue its exemplary efforts to incorporate social work best practices and crisis management de-escalation in social services calls while partnering with the Health Department for that broader community-wide assessment to ensure that police officers are not always the first or only option when social services needs arise.
ARPA, and Brookline’s unique process of allocating ARPA dollars through a community-based model, have been responsible for seismic movement in community-based outreach to those impacted or disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. While the rollout has been slower than desired due to the restricitons of federal grantmaking requirements, thus far, over $11M has been allocated for projects or entities that assist disadvantaged communities (including $6M to the Brookline Housing Authority), with more to come in Round 2. The base override proposal continues several important Town ARPA-funded efforts to reach impacted populations on a permanent basis.
Communication & Community Engagement
The creation of the Assistant Town Administrator for Operations role has provided a much-needed boost to the quality and consistency of the Town’s public outreach efforts and staff development. The monthly newsletter she publishes is rapidly growing in circulation and offers a unique opportunity for staff to celebrate employee accomplishments and successful initiatives—we hope to have enough capacity in the coming year to increase the rate of publication to bi-weekly or weekly. Quarterly meetings with Department and Division Heads focused on professional development and cross-departmental communication have also proven successful. As mentioned above, we hope to augment the position with an additional communications specialist focused on outreach to historically underserved or marginalized communities.
The Select Board passed its first-ever Code of Conduct in December, setting expectations for respectful, prompt, and productive communication between staff, elected/appointed officials, and the broader public. The Select Board urged other boards, commissions, and entities not under its jurisdiction to consider a similar document.
Transportation & “Complete Streets”
The single largest line item in the Town’s proposed base override is $2.1M for streetscape transformation. When coupled with an infusion of $100,000 from a proposed parking fee increase, this satisfies the target set forth in the 2022 Transportation & Mobility Plan to prevent runaway degredation of our streets and sidewalks.
The CIP this year provides a full $500,000 for sidewalk repair, $700,000 for bike access improvements (an increase of more than $200,000 from FY 2023), and $500,000 for traffic calming/safety improvements. If an override passes, street rehabilitation will finally be funded at an appropriate baseline level that will allow for significantly more flexibility in future CIPs to allocate resources to transformational projects in any of the above categories, or others, as the community directs.