Newton Finance Committee Backs Strategic Investment
On Monday, the Newton Finance Committee approved a $300,000 budget transfer to fund two newly created leadership roles within the mayor’s office: chief of community services and chief of staff. City officials emphasized that the addition of these positions is intended to improve administrative efficiency and support ongoing city operations without increasing the overall budget.
Chief Operating Officer (COO) Josh Morse highlighted the necessity of the roles, noting that the current structure leaves key personnel overburdened. “It’s a growth period—more of an institutional growth, not necessarily budget growth,” Morse said during the meeting.
Funding Drawn from Existing Salary Allocations
According to Maureen Lemieux, the city’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), the funds for the new positions will be reallocated from existing salary budgets that are expected to go unused this fiscal year. “We didn’t want to ask to take money from free cash or even the budget reserve,” Lemieux said. “We wanted to repurpose funds that had already been budgeted this year for salaries for these couple of positions.”
To simplify the reallocation process, the finance team opted to draw significant amounts from only three departments, rather than small sums from multiple areas. This approach allows for a streamlined approval and avoids disruption across city departments.
Relieving the COO Bottleneck
Morse, who has spent 18 years working for Newton—five of them in the executive office—described how the COO role has historically been unsustainably demanding. “It was always one single person managing all of the departments, supporting all of our city councilors, supporting 88,000 residents and 13 villages,” he said. “There were so many things that those incredible employees wanted to accomplish, but they just struggled to even get away from their desk because they were triple, quadruple booked every hour of the day.”
He further stressed the importance of community engagement over administrative overload. “Opportunities to really discuss what we can do as a city to help improve working conditions or just make sure that we’re adequately supporting and maximizing efficiencies with our frontline staff are important,” Morse said. “And conveying the message about how much we support them and how much we really appreciate the work that they do—and listening, really listening to them.”
Facilitating Leadership Transition
The funding will also support a smooth transition in the city’s financial leadership. Lemieux announced her plan to retire within six months and emphasized the need for overlap with the incoming CFO. “What we’re asking for is funding to allow me to retire in about six months, for us to be able to search for and bring on a new CFO before I go, so that we can have some time for an overlap between my tenure and when the new CFO would take over,” she explained.
Concerns Addressed Over Vacant Positions
During the meeting, some committee members voiced concerns that reallocating funds from currently unfilled roles could lead to long-term vacancies in other departments. Lemieux reassured them that there is no intention to leave those departments under-resourced. “We are absolutely not putting those positions on hold … there is absolutely no intent to be shorting that department,” she said.
She clarified that the decision was driven by practicality and that departments could still proceed with hiring if necessary. The aim is to use existing resources more effectively without compromising staffing needs elsewhere.
Looking Toward Newton’s Administrative Future
Morse concluded the discussion by emphasizing how these new roles will help Newton grow and retain talent. “If people see that upward mobility and support, they’re more likely to stick around, and it’s better for us because it makes us more resilient as a city,” he said. The creation of the chief of staff and chief of community services roles marks a significant step in enhancing operational capacity and ensuring responsive governance for Newton’s residents.
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