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The Gardner City Council will meet again on Tuesday April 19, 2022. For our City Council page and to view the most recent meetings, CLICK HERE.
Rising Prices Impact Gardner MA Current and Upcoming Budget
Where possible, Gardner Mayor Michael Nicholson has attempted to take advantage of lower contracted prices on certain items such as road materials. However, the Chair City is not immune to inflation, and the current budget is impacted by rising prices. And the budget for the next fiscal year which the Mayor reportedly will submit to the City Council next month has the same challenges. In an interview Saturday 4-9-22 on WGAW AM 1340 and 98.1 FM, City Council President Elizabeth Kazinskas specified a few specific areas of immediate concern which will be discussed at the next meeting on Tuesday, April 19, 2022:
Kazinskas stated, ““The City Council voted at our February 22nd meeting to install new trash receptacles downtown….The mayor has an order on the agenda to revisit that,….appropriate 10 thousand dollars…due to the increase in prices….The Department of Corrections has increased the price of the trash receptacles.” “Another item…water infrastructure throughout the city, replacing old pipes and valves…due to rising price of asphalt…original loan is no longer sufficient to cover costs. So there is a request for an additional $1.8 million to be borrowed from the water enterprise account in order to complete the project…still within the city’s debt limit…another effect of what’s going on throughout the world on our cities..”
Kazinskas praised the current Mayor, the previous mayor, and the Economic Development Department for their abilities to obtain various grants to help cover city costs. “They helped get money, whether it’s state or federal.” Kazinskas stated that it was important to note that the City Council can’t add to the City budget, it can only cut from the budget. “Any amendments that we make would be a cut to the budget, not an addition to the budget… By the time we vote on the budget, we’ve had the budget in front of us for over a month.” On a lighter note, the Council President stated she was happy to be celebrating the 98th birthday next Saturday of her grandmother who is “100 percent Polish.”
To hear the Hotline Radio program from Saturday 4-9-22, please visit the WGAW Hotline Radio page: CLICK HERE The program featuring local interviews airs every Saturday from 12:10pm to 2:00pm on WGAW AM 1340, 98.1 FM, and on a live stream.
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