Wanted: More green for a greener Worcester

WORCESTER – Back in November, an advisory committee grumbled that Worcester needed to devote more money to fight climate change.

This week, the committee put its request in writing.

Monday night, the Green Worcester Advisory Committee unanimously supported a statement that urged the city to pump more staff and money into the Department of Sustainability and Resilience. That department is tasked with making sure the city meets the goals of the Green Worcester Plan to fight climate change.

The plan was unanimously adopted by the City Council in 2021 and includes three primary goals: 100% renewable energy for municipal facilities by 2030, 100% renewable electricity citywide by 2035 and 100% renewable energy in all sectors including heating and transportation by 2045.

Red flag of concern raised

The seven-member advisory committee is appointed by City Manager Eric D. Batista, and while its statement commended the city’s work on the Green Worcester Plan over the past two years, it also raised a red flag, pointing out that more money is needed to get the job done. The committee made its assessment based on the city's first progress report on the Green Worcester Plan covering July 2021 to December 2023.

“What is also clear from the first progress report is the magnitude of the task before us and the need for a much more significant investment of municipal resources, if we are to fully implement the plan on schedule," reads the advisory committee's statement.

A big challenge is converting Worcester's existing residential and commercial buildings from fossil fuel heating and cooling systems to full electrification. Those buildings account for roughly 65% of the city’s carbon emissions, according to city officials.

Batista, City Council control budget

Whether the department gets more staff and money is ultimately up to Batista's office, which prepares the annual citywide budget, and the City Council, which approves it.

A city spokesman said Batista was not available for an interview, but the city provided a statement: “The City Manager values the work of the Department of Sustainability and Resilience and its efforts to make Worcester the greenest mid-size city in the country. During the budget process, staffing and funding is reviewed for each department to help determine the fiscal year’s capital and operational budget.”

City Councilor Khrystian King, the incoming chairman of the council’s Urban Technologies, Innovation and Environment subcommittee, said he plans to file an order soon that calls on Batista to report back on a staffing analysis of the Department of Sustainability and Resilience.

“In order for us to meet sustainability and resilience visions as a city, we should absolutely take a closer look at that,” said King of the need to scrutinize the department’s staffing.

Comparison to other cities

Currently, Worcester's Department of Sustainability and Resilience has 10 employees including nine full-time and one part-time. The department’s fiscal 2024 budget includes roughly $800,000 for salaries. It received more than $500,000 in local taxes in the fiscal year. Revenues also come from local revolving funds and grants.

Worcester is the second-largest city in Massachusetts and New England, with a population of 206,000 and its efforts to fight climate change crosses many departments, each with multimillion-dollar budgets including public works, economic development and transportation.

For context, Providence, with a population of 190,000, has a sustainability office with a $862,000 fiscal 2024 budget that includes five full-time employees and an energy fellow. The office brought in nearly $6 million in climate resiliency grants, according to a city spokesman.

Cambridge, the state's fourth-largest city with 117,000 residents, spent $90.2 million on sustainability in fiscal 2024 compared to $89.6 million in fiscal 2023. Those figures apply to several departments across numerous projects.

More staff, $ always welcome

The Green Worcester Advisory Committee's statement didn't ask for specific numbers when it comes to increased staffing and money. In an interview, John Odell, who heads up the Department of Sustainability and Resilience as the city’s chief sustainability officer, said he would like more staff, just like any city department.

Odell noted money is coming from outside sources to help fund his department's work including $1 million in state grants that will pay for small urban forests on city-owned land and stormwater mitigation plans.

“We expect to be able to go for a lot of other grants that are coming on board,” said Odell. “There's some substantial federal grants that have just been released. And so, we'll be looking at those as big opportunities, as well.”

When asked if the City Council would look favorably at a significant increase in his department's budget given the goals of the Green Worcester Plan, Odell mentioned the council’s 11-0 vote in 2021 to adopt the plan.

“(The City Council is) clearly supportive of the efforts we are trying to make,” said Odell. “And I think we and they would want us to explore every opportunity we can have, both internally and externally, to provide more resources to implement what we want to do through the Green Worcester Plan.

“But I think they also think of that for most every other departments, as well.”

Sustainability needs to be everywhere

When told that the advisory committee’s statement doesn't put a number on more staff and money for Odell's department, Evelyn Herwitz, the advisory committee's vice chairwoman, called the statement “aspirational.”

As Herwitz sees it, sustainability efforts must be included in everything the city does to fight climate change. That includes the Worcester Now/Next Plan, which is being developed to chart the city's future in many sectors including land use, housing and transportation.

“We would like to see it be a higher priority or continue to be a priority for the city as we go forward because sustainability is going to affect every single department in the city,” said Herwitz.

Contact Henry Schwan at henry.schwan@telegram.com. Follow him on X: @henrytelegram.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Green Worcester committee makes bid for extra funding, staff