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Council trims mayor’s advertising and ‘other charges’ budgets after debate over large increases
Summary
Everett City Council cut $50,000 from an “other charges” pool and $120,000 from a requested $180,000 advertising budget after members said the mayor’s office did not provide enough line‑item detail about how public notices and community advertising are paid.
Everett City Council on May 28 reduced two flexible spending pools in the mayor’s office budget after members questioned rising costs and a lack of department-level detail. Councilors approved a $50,000 cut to an “other charges” account and a separate $120,000 reduction to the mayor’s $180,000 advertising request, leaving $60,000 for advertising in the mayor’s budget.
Councilors said the mayor’s advertising line had grown well beyond prior-year spending—$125,000 in 2024—and that many legally required notices and board postings were being charged to a single mayoral account rather than to the boards or departments that generate them. “I’d much rather see that money in line items connected to those functions, to those boards, rather than one catchall in the mayor’s office,” Councilor VanCamp said during debate.
Administration staff said most required public notices are handled centrally in the mayor’s office and that creating a single account made reporting consistent. “At least 90% of all the city’s advertisements come out of this line item,” Mr. Dimas told councilors, explaining the accounting practice and that the city pays for legal advertisements the city is required to publish.
The council first voted to remove $50,000 from the mayor’s “other charges” pool (motion passed) and later approved two motions reducing the advertising allocation in steps that together removed $120,000 from the $180,000 request; the final motion to further reduce advertising left $60,000 in that account. Councilors sought a follow-up report breaking down what the advertising dollars paid for—legal notices, planning board postings, community events, vendor registrations—and whether developers’ legal‑ad costs are being rebilled to applicants or retained in the general fund.
Administration representatives agreed to run a department-by-department breakdown of legally required notices (planning boards, ZBA, licensing) and to return to the council with options for moving those costs into the budgets of the boards that request them or with a plan for supplemental appropriations if the boards need funds in-year. The council made the reductions as part of its line‑by‑line budget review; the cuts do not by themselves appropriate or reallocate funds beyond the FY26 budget book adjustments.
