City Manager Updates

S&P AAA Bond Rating

May 22, 2025

The City of Watertown is pleased to announce that it has received a AAA bond rating – the highest possible rating – by Standard & Poor’s (S&P). This elite rating reflects the City’s exceptional fiscal management, conservative planning, and strong economic outlook as Watertown continues to move forward with large-scale projects to best serve the community.

The City of Watertown has been rated AAA since 2013, and like most municipalities, Watertown relies, in part, on borrowing to finance the cost of large capital projects with an extended lifespan, such as the new high school.  When a City borrows, credit rating agencies review and assign their ratings to indicate a recipient’s creditworthiness. When assigning these ratings to a government entity, S&P assesses the community’s economic health, financial performance, budget management, reserves, debt load, and liabilities, to determine the likelihood that the government will be able to repay its debts on time. It was the conclusion of this review for which the City of Watertown was assigned the highest possible rating available, signaling exceptional budgeting practices. 

“Each year when we present our budget goals to the City Council and community, we include our conservative but sound budget strategies,” said Watertown City Manager George Proakis, “chief among them is the goal of providing the highest level of services possible with the most efficient utilization of resources, and to ensure sound finance management and fiscal stability. This rating is a sign that we are not only succeeding, but exceeding in doing so”.

Recipients of AAA ratings are often met with lower interest rates when borrowing, a significant benefit to not only the City, but residents as well. The S&P’s review of Watertown comes at a time when the City borrowed its final $50 million for the on-budget and on-schedule Watertown High School building project this year. With this AAA rating, the City will receive a more favorable interest rate, making repayments more manageable, saving Watertown taxpayers money, and allowing for the continued investment in a wide variety of programs and services that further meet the community’s needs. When comparing this borrowing to a AA rating, interest costs for the high school building project will total about $4.6 million less over the 30-year repayment period due to Watertown’s AAA rating. 

City Council President Mark Sideris adds “This is an achievement that I am very proud of, being able to maintain the rating especially during this uncertain time, not only for what it means for our Council and the City’s Administration, but also what it means for this community, our residents, and our businesses, present and future. This is going to only help our City continue to invest in what is most important to them”.

Please see S&P’s announcement of the City of Watertown’s recent rating, and be sure to stay up-to-date with the City’s major projects at Watertown-ma.gov.

Some Thoughts on Watertown’s Winter Parking Ban

March 7, 2025

Recently, a group of Watertown residents signed a petition to seek a public hearing in front of the City Council. The topic of the petition and the hearing was our long-term ban on overnight parking that we enforce each winter. The Council hosted this hearing in January.

At the hearing, the City Manager shared his thoughts on the current status of the ban and the challenges the City faces with any changes made. In follow up, he has released a three-part series of letters that examine the complex challenges needing to be addressed before determining any changes being made to the ban. Read all three letters below:

Part 1: Public Safety

Part 2: City Operations and Possible Unintended Consequences

Part 3: Long-Range Planning

Watertown City Council Votes to Prioritize Middle School Renovation

November 25, 2024

With this project, all Public Schools will have been rebuilt or renovated in less than a decade

The Watertown City Council voted to prioritize the renovation of the Middle School last week in another huge step forward in building for the future in Watertown. This will mark the fifth and final public school to be newly built or completely renovated since the Building for the Future project’s first groundbreakings in 2020.

The Council’s decision is another case in its recent but significant history of prioritizing future generations and the education community in Watertown, without seeking additional revenue from taxpayers through overrides or debt exclusions. City Council President Mark Sideris views this as an opportunity to maximize the fiscal health of the City: “We have prioritized education in Watertown for decades, and when we as a Council are presented with an opportunity to invest in that education and our future generations, and doing so within the confines of Prop 2 ½, we’ve shown we cannot pass that up.”

To date, the Council has approved the construction or complete renovation of three elementary schools, two of which are LEED Gold certified, with the final opening in Fall 2023, and the on-going state-of-the-art LEED Platinum and Net Zero high school building project that is projected to be completed in 2026. Now the Council has voted to prioritize the Watertown Middle School, which City Manager George Proakis believes can begin construction as early as April 2026 and be completed by Fall 2028. In achieving these goals, it would make Watertown the home of five rebuilt or renovated public schools within a seven-year timeframe, establishing 21st century learning spaces for all Watertown public school students.

The decision before the Council in the Special Meeting on November 19 was to strategically consider the next five years in capital investment projects, including, but not limited to the Middle School. While agreeing to add items like a new Senior Center, an improved East End Fire Station, and DPW Staging Area to the 5-year plan, the Council focused on the timeline and opportunity presented before them with the Middle School. City Manager George Proakis is excited to begin working on this new priority item: “The Council’s vote to prioritize the Middle School project comes at an important time for Watertown. This project will never be as feasible and attainable as it is right now, and I look forward to continuing to work with the Council in executing this vision.”

With a goal of beginning construction in early 2026, the City’s goal for the Middle School will be to modernize and maximize a learning environment that is consistent throughout the other schools in Watertown. “Watertown strives to be a leader. We are a leader in sustainability, green energy, and have been a leader in industry for centuries,” Council President Sideris adds, “This vote furthers our stance as a leader in education, where our young people will receive the highest standard of education in some of the most premier learning environments you will find in the region.”

 To see the discussion among the Council and the City Manager’s presentation, please watch the Special City Council Meeting and stay up to date with the City’s efforts at the City of Watertown's website.

The City Manager’s Update on the Watertown Square Area Plan

July 8, 2024

This letter reproduces the introductory remarks given by the City Manager to the City Council and Planning Board at the Watertown Square Area Plan Joint Hearing on June 27, 2024, with modifications for publication.

As we embark on what I call the end of the beginning of the work on Watertown Square, I’d like to reflect on the progress we have made and the process we have taken to get to the publication of the Watertown Square Area Plan. Read the letter.

City Manager's Special Presentation on Zoning

June 3, 2024

City Logo Presentation

March 27, 2024

At the March 26, 2024 City Council meeting, I requested the Council’s endorsement of a logo for the City of Watertown. The purpose of the logo is to create an aesthetically pleasing image for the City that is easily identifiable but also flexible enough to be adapted for various purposes. The logo will not replace or affect the City seal, which will continue to be used for official purposes.

We worked with Sebastian Ebarb of the graphic design company Nahi to create the logo and associated brand, and we are thrilled with the outcome, which you can see in the linked presentation. The logo obviously reflects the water in Watertown, and we also think it conveys optimism, inclusivity, resilience, and innovation.

Should the Council endorse the logo, we will move forward with a gradual rollout, prioritizing no- and low-cost, mostly digital items, like email signatures. With limited exceptions, we won’t replace physical items solely for the purpose of adopting the new logo. However, we will use it on physical items when they need to be replaced and as new opportunities arise. For example, we would like to feature the new logo in the campaign to advertise the upcoming launch of the 311 Service Center.

You can read the memo I submitted to the Council and see the PowerPoint presentation.

City Council Request: City Hall, Parker Annex, and Senior Center Hours

March 13, 2024

At the March 12th, 2024 City Council meeting, I requested that the Council consider a permanent change in hours for City Hall, the Parker Annex, and the Senior Center as follows:

  • Mondays:            8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
  • Tuesdays:            8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.
  • Wednesdays:      8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
  • Thursdays:          8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
  • Fridays:                8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Watertown has a tradition of instituting “summer hours” each year between Memorial Day and Labor Day, keeping administration buildings open until 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and closing buildings early at 2 p.m. on Fridays. My administration has studied making permanent a version of Watertown’s summer hours year-round because short-day Fridays are generally viewed as a recruitment and retention tool.

As part of this consideration, we reviewed the operating hours for our neighboring and comparable communities. Key takeaways from the review include:

  1. 12 of the 18 communities have year-round half-day Fridays.
  2. For communities that work a short Friday either year-round or during the summer, the latest any of them are open is 1 p.m.
  3. The average number of hours the communities are open to the public is 40.2. Watertown is currently open 42.5 hours per week and would be open 40 hours per week with the proposed change in schedule.
  4. 10 of the 18 communities are open to the public 40 hours or less per week.

The full results of our review as well as the original memo I submitted to the Council are available HERE.

I believe the proposed change in hours will bring Watertown more in line with our neighboring and comparable communities and will yield meaningful work-life balance benefits for our employees as well as recruitment and retention benefits for the City. I thank the City Council for their consideration of this request.

An update on budget and bargaining

February 9, 2023

This memo provides an update on our budget and our work on collective bargaining. While I cannot share every detail of the bargaining process, I can share that all the City’s six unions need contract renewals, and that we are underway in negotiating with most of those unions at this time. The School Committee’s negotiating team is also working on a new agreement with the teachers.

I first want to be clear about the philosophy around compensation that I have established on the City side, which is focused on ensuring that we provide competitive wages for all our employees. This strategy requires fair and straightforward cost-of-living increases for all employees combined with market-based salary adjustments focused on the aspects of our compensation and classification system that are out of sync with our peer communities. To date, the school committee’s bargaining team has been aligned with this philosophy. 

Read more.

Five Key Points about Watertown’s Fiscal Situation

(from the City Manager’s October 2022 Budget Presentation)

1. City goals are focused on staff AND physical plant priorities.
The city seeks to use new growth in tax revenue to:
• implement the City Council’s budget priorities
• fill key roles in City staff to meet the Council and community’s needs and expectations of our local government;
• invest in buildings and infrastructure projects, including the construction of new schools and the acquisition of adequate space for City offices; and,
• continue to provide cost-of-living and market adjustments to annual staff salaries to ensure competitive compensation for our workforce.

Read more.