Holyoke mayor presents 2025 fiscal budget at State of the City address

HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) – One day after Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno announced his 2025 Budget, another Hampden County city outlined its plans.

Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia delivered his annual State of the City address Thursday evening. He told 22News he submitted a 2025 fiscal budget to the council that is balanced, with no reserves, free cash, or ARPA replacement dollars.

In previous years, the city’s budgets used ARPA revenue replacement funds to fill gaps caused by COVID-19. Mayor Garcia is anticipating another year of increases in net school aid, which will have an impact on its local contribution to fund public schools due to the ‘Student Opportunity Act’.

Mayor Garcia told 22News, “Being in this position offers us the flexibility to keep up with services, working with the council, and investing in new initiatives to keep up with the most basic quality of life that our community deserves.”

Transportation costs would also be going up significantly, as well as the city’s health insurance, which has absorbed the little bit of excess capacity the city has worked hard to build since the beginning of the mayor’s term in office.

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22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts in March 1953. Watch the 22News digital edition on weekdays at 4 p.m.

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