By Adam Swift
The city’s recreational and cultural affairs department presented its proposed FY27 budget during the city council’s ways and means budget subcommittee meeting last week.
The total proposed budget is $908,842, which is actually down by just over $17,000 from the current year’s budget.
“We were able to identify $37,000 in savings,” said Charlie Giuffrida, the director of athletic infrastructure and sports tourism. “We’ve reallocated 20, and are cutting 17.”
Giuffrida said the savings were through two unfilled positions revolving around field monitoring.
“Because I am down at the fields a lot, we are activating Voke Park a lot more, there wasn’t really a need so we were able to cut this from the budget,” he said. “Not to oversell it for next year, but I think you are going to see even more streamlining and efficiency next year as well. Hopefully, this is a trend for the next two or three fiscal years; we are making sound investments and we are pursuing as many grants as possible and we have moved a lot of programs in-house, so I hope that reflects that for the taxpayers, we hope to continue that trend.”
Some of the department highlights for the past year include the department offering 290 no-cost and low-cost recreation and education programs to the community over three program periods. The 3,441 registrations processed represented an increase of 1,770 registrations compared to FY25 and the program participant database rose from 5,042 to 5,832 over this past year, according to documentation in the FY27 budget book.
The department has also launched a shared scheduling and facility management system in collaboration with the Chelsea Public Schools and the Department of Public Works. The system improved coordination, transparency, and equity in the use of municipal fields and facilities, according to recreation officials, and the Chelsea Sports and Scholarship Fund was revised to expand and strengthen youth sports programs citywide.
District 2 Councilor Deron Hines asked about the department’s most popular programs, and any potential new programs that are coming down the road.
“Swimming, just hands down,” said Bea Cravatta, the Recreation and Cultural Affairs Director. “We had the ARPA (Covid relief) grant, and we were filled … within a week or two, we bring in people.”
Cravatta said the department and her team is looking at all grant opportunities so it can get more swim lessons for all ages, including infants and pre-schoolers.
District 1 Councilor Todd Taylor praised the efforts of the rec department to bring more cultural events into the city.
“A lot of times in Chelsea, we get the usual suspects who show up to every event and no one else comes,” said Taylor. “The events we put on now, the car show … everything, it is amazing and it has transformed, I think public spaces. Especially coming out of the pandemic, it was really needed.”
Cravatta said the department is proud of the partnerships it has built with organizations both inside the city and in the region.
Council Vice President Norieliz DeJesus praised the department for being strategic in its spending, but still being able to provide many valuable services for the city.