Regular watchers of our Daily Pulse Podcasts, launched January 6 of this year, have been able to pick up a few tips along the way of coming attractions in the city. In particular, interviews featuring City Manager, Tom Golden, have proven particularly prescient.

In fact, during a conversation about the Smith-Baker Center on March 5th, Golden confirmed rumblings we’d been hearing about an “Angel Investor” stepping up to save a historic building. As we learned yesterday, that investor turned out to be country music star Luke Bryan purchasing the former Saint Jean Baptiste Church and paving the way for the long-anticipated Jack Kerouac Center to become reality.

The upcoming City Council meeting agenda contains confirmation of another statement made by the Manager during an even earlier Daily Pulse episode;

The proposed Fiscal 2026 budget includes a 2.5% tax levy increase, which Golden had stated as the target during his January 15 sit-down in the Wellpoint Studios.

A public hearing on the $617,355,800 million total proposal is scheduled for May 27 and any other dates as necessary. Depending on how the specific numbers are received by the public, and more importantly the council, the budget will then come up for a vote to approve.

Given the reaction of the School Committee and the School Department to the $4-million dollars reduction in “cash” from the city to the schools, I anticipate scrutiny over that particular line item and likely efforts to “nip-tuck” a few dollars from here and there to provide more school funding.

The one thing I don’t anticipate is any dollar juggling that results in that 2.5% tax levy increase being raised. It is an election year, after all, and it’s likely more desirable to rob “Line Item Peter” to pay “Line Item Paul” than to be the one proposing a larger tax increase.