Taunton council approves firefighter raise and final budget 7-1 after a standoff over its own lawyer

TAUNTON Taunton's City Council approved its final fiscal 2027 spending Tuesday, Nov. 10, including a firefighter raise an arbitrator ordered, after voting it down again that night over a lawyer for the council.

The $717,583 supplemental budget failed 5-3 on the first roll call, with one councilor absent. Councilor Debra Botellio then withdrew her own motion to strip out a reserve fund deposit, the council voted 7-1 to reconsider, and the spending passed 7-1. The council next approved the full $336,405,283.70 budget, also 7-1, and voted 8-0 after a closed session to approve Eric Nichols' contract as police chief.

The votes let the city's finance department file the final budget with the state Department of Revenue and move toward this year's tax bills. Chief Financial Officer Patrick D. Dello Russo Jr. told councilors the file for the bill printer is due Dec. 1, and that without a vote the city would file its preliminary budget and leave the new spending unfunded.

How the council voted

On the first roll call, Council President Barry Sanders and Councilors Phillip Duarte and Scott Martin voted yes. Councilors Debra Botellio, Edward Correira, David Chaves, Deborah Carr and John McCaul voted no. The clerk recorded Councilor David Pottier as absent and announced that the motion failed 5-3.

Botellio then moved to pass everything except the reserve fund money, and after more debate she withdrew that motion, saying she was doing so "because I think this has to be passed." "I do not want the other people to suffer," she said, adding that she would hold the mayor and the city solicitor, among others, to their promise to work with the council on its request.

Carr was the only no on the motion to reconsider, on the second vote on the supplemental budget and on the final $336.4 million budget. The other seven councilors present voted yes each time. All eight voted to approve the Nichols contract.

The dispute over a council lawyer

Several of the councilors who voted no on Oct. 27 and again on the first roll call said the council wants $50,000 for an attorney of its own. Carr said the only way the council "will ever get a lawyer for itself" is "to vote no on funding, because it's the only thing that we have to use." She said she did not want to hold back money from firefighters or anyone else and did not believe the city had a money problem.

Correira said councilors were elected "to protect our people" and that an attorney of their own would give them "the confidence and the comfort" to take on certain issues. Chaves said, "We should not be forced into an all or nothing."

Sanders, urging his colleagues to vote yes, said, "This is not how we do business in Taunton. We don't deny a vote on one thing in order to leverage something else." He said the vote was "holding up contractually obligated funds, an arbitration decision that our fire department is entitled to."

Dello Russo said the administration has said since the April and May budget talks that it would put money toward a council attorney once the council and the law department agree on how one would be used, and that the council had not taken the question back up since May. City Solicitor Matthew J. Costa told the council that under the city charter and ordinances the city solicitor is the attorney for the city, the council included, and that the ordinances allow hiring added counsel. He said he has legal concerns, citing cases in other communities where such an arrangement turned adversarial, but is open to meeting and has never received a specific proposal.

What the money pays for

The $717,583, all from the general fund, is the same list the council rejected 5-4 on Oct. 27, South Coast 360 reported at the time, and Mayor Shaunna O'Connell resubmitted it unchanged:

• $480,967.99 for the reserve fund, which pays for extraordinary and unforeseen costs and can be tapped only with a council vote.
• $129,573.03 for the arbitration raise, spread across eight Fire Department accounts.
• $60,000 for the audit department.
• $36,463.88 in the Building Department for a promotion, a transfer and longevity pay.
• $5,000 more for part-time employees in Veterans Services, $3,578.10 for the retirement system's military service fund and a $2,000 tax possession stipend.

O'Connell, who chairs council meetings, said the reserve fund "has always been $500,000 for years and years and years." Dello Russo said the deposit lifts it to $980,967.99 this year, so that if inflation continues or state aid is cut, the first cut in the fiscal 2028 budget can come from that fund rather than from the fire or police departments. In a letter read at the meeting, the Veterans Services director asked the council to release money for the drivers of the department's medical appointment van.

Retirees, snow rules and the police chief

Earlier in the meeting, the council approved the Taunton Retirement Board's request to raise the base used to figure retirees' cost-of-living increases from $16,000 to $17,000, effective July 1, 2027, with no one voting against it. The board voted for the change Aug. 26, and state law requires the council's approval.

The city solicitor's rewrite of the snow and ice ordinance, which would require property owners to clear sidewalks along their land, was referred to the Ordinance Committee. A requisition for six permanent full-time police officers went to the Police and License committee, and a notice of intent to sell farmland on Cotley Street went to the Committee of the Whole.

The Nichols contract vote came after the council met in executive session to discuss a contract. As of Nov. 4 the city had no signed contract with him, South Coast 360 reported. The city has announced that he will be sworn in as chief at the council's next meeting.

What happens next

Nichols' swearing-in is set for Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. in the council chambers on the second floor of City Hall, 15 Summer St., during the regular council meeting, and the city said the public is welcome. The council's request for its own lawyer goes back to its committee and the law department, and Correira told Dello Russo the council would have a proposal to present.

Under the public input guidelines the council read aloud at the Nov. 10 meeting, speakers give their name and address and have three minutes or less, and written comments may also be provided. The City Council office is at 508-821-1035 and tauntoncouncil@taunton-ma.gov. South Coast 360 asked Mayor O'Connell's office and Council President Sanders for comment on Friday, Nov. 13; any answer will be added.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.