Beverly Financial Property Committee Approves $144 Million Fiscal 2022 Budget

BEVERLY — June 15, 2021 — Beverly's Financial Property Committee unanimously cleared a $144,180,396 general fund budget for fiscal year 2022, sending it to a full City Council vote set for June 23. The committee voted three to zero on every line item across a lengthy June 15 meeting, approving budgets ranging from a $648,856 city clerk's package to a $67,274,926 schools appropriation and a $16,848,568 public safety allocation. City CAO Brian Ayles cautioned against treating $12 million in incoming American Rescue Plan Act funds as a source of recurring spending, warning of a fiscal cliff once federal pandemic relief expires: "I would be concerned if we were to look at that resource as a way to either shift recurring costs off of the city budget or enhance the city's budget through staffing increases." The committee also set the water rate at $3.17 per unit and the sewer rate at $6.24 per 100 cubic feet, with Ayles noting that retained-earnings transfers used to soften this year's rate increases may not be available at the same level next year.