NORTHAMPTON — A planned $3 million Proposition 2½ override to fund the school budget will no longer be listed on the November ballot after a unanimous vote by the City Council Monday morning, but some councilors used the special meeting as an opportunity to lob criticism at the city’s budgeting process in the hotly debated school funding controversy last spring.

After initially saying an override was necessary to continuously fund the school district after the council approved a $40.7 million school budget for fiscal 2025 that was 8% higher than last fiscal year, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra released a letter to the council last Thursday saying that fourth-quarter revenues had exceeded expectations and that the city’s existing cash balances had accrued over $2 million in interest. Those developments provided enough support to the city’s Fiscal Stability Fund to no longer necessitate an override this year.

The mayor also stated that the vote was merely a postponement, not an outright cancellation of the override.

At Monday’s special council meeting, Finance Director Charlene Nardi gave a presentation detailing the results from the city’s fourth quarter, noting that motor vehicle excise, hotel/motel, meals and cannabis tax revenues had all exceeded expectations. She noted that the fourth-quarter revenue from the motor vehicle excise tax, paid by registered motor vehicle owners in the city, made up 30% of total revenue for the year, an unusually high amount compared to previous years. For the year, the city collected $3.4 million in motor vehicle taxes, which was a 32% increase, or $835,000, from what the city had projected to receive for the year.

“Motor vehicle excise tax bills go out in February, and then there’s 30 days to pay it, so they get paid in March,” Nardi said. “That’s why you usually don’t see much at all in the first and second quarters. You see the big one in the third quarter, and then you see a smaller percentage in the fourth quarter that trickles in.”

Asked by Ward 1 Councilor Stanley Moulton why this year’s fourth-quarter motor vehicle excise tax revenues were so high compared to last year, Nardi said she didn’t know.

Although the returns are described as “higher than expected” in the mayor’s letter, city data from the previous two fiscal years shows this year’s motor vehicle tax revenues being largely in keeping with previous years in terms of how they beat projections. Motor vehicle excise revenue this year was 132% of the city’s projected revenue, compared to 125% in fiscal 2023 and 131% fiscal 2022. General fund revenues were also in keeping with the previous two years in terms of matching original expectations.

In addition, the city benefited from accruing around $2 million in interest from its existing cash reserves, taking advantage of climbing interest rates by moving funds to higher-yielding interest banking accounts, a move Sciarra and Nardi credited to city Treasurer Kris Bissell.

“She is trying to take advantage of this time in history when the rates are so high,” Nardi said.

This fall’s vote would have been the third override for the schools since 2013. Though the previous two overrides passed with widespread support, Ward 6 Councilor Marianne LeBarge said she had heard differently from constituents regarding this one amid rising living costs in the city.

“They couldn’t do it this time. That’s how bad it is in our city financially,” LaBarge said. “Every time you turn around, the fees are going up or fees are being placed.”

Although the decision to rescind the override was met with praise from the council, Ward 3’s Quaverly Rothenberg and Ward 7’s Rachel Maiore criticized the city’s conservative budgeting estimates, which factored into determining a school budget that led to public backlash over numerous job cuts. Both councilors had previously backed a level-services school budget that would have prevented any cuts.

“When we talk about staff cuts from using non-recurring funds, we’re experiencing staff cuts by also approaching the budget in a conservative fashion,” Maiore said. “The reality is we made harmful cuts to the schools. I mean, that’s just true.”

Rothenberg noted how she, along with other supporters of the level-services budget, had given a presentation during a special council meeting in June to make the case that the city had more than enough money to avoid job cuts, and that a budget override was unnecessary. The decision to now rescind the override, Rothenberg said, only confirmed to her the belief that the schools could have avoided job cuts.

“This year-end report is not surprising to me and should not be surprising to any of the councilors,” Rothenberg said. “It feels like whatever reason this override went on the ballot and whatever reason it came off is not what you say it to be. And that is troubling.”

Sciarra responded to Rothenberg, pushing back against the claim that schools had been underfunded.

“To say that we are underfunding the schools when literally we’re putting more money into schools, more money than has been seen in decades, is just simply false. We are contributing as much as we possibly can for it to be sustainable,” Sciarra said. “We need to have stable, recurring revenue to be able to fold all of these additional funds into the base. Otherwise there’s going to be a deficit.”

The council has its next regular meeting scheduled for Aug. 15, where the fourth-quarter revenue results will be formally presented. Additional discussion regarding the results, and how they pertain to the override and city and school budgets, is expected.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.