Barrett and Burns Vie for Haverhill City Hall’s Corner Office

Political newcomer Brandon F. Burns is challenging incumbent Melinda E. Barrett for mayor of Haverhill in the city’s general election Tuesday, Nov. 4.

A small business owner for 23 years, Barrett, 62, served on Haverhill’s City Council for 10 years before making history when she became the city’s first female chief executive. Burns, 23, graduated from Haverhill High School in 2020 as part of the classical academy program. He currently works as an accountant in Boston.

Both Barrett and Burns sat down in separate, live WHAV interviews during WHAV’s morning program, “Win for Breakfast.” Each answered five questions on major issues facing the city. These are their answers in the order their names will appear on the ballot.

Why do you want to be mayor?

“Well, we have done a lot and we’ve made a lot of progress. But there is so much more to do. Two years for a mayoral role is rather short. All our surrounding communities have gone to four years. We have a lot of things in the pipeline. We’ve accomplished a lot. I’d like to see them through,” Barrett said.

“I want to make sure I serve the community and I think the status quo isn’t working for many individuals anymore. And we really need to see some new leadership from the top down and make sure that we accommodate to everybody in the city,” Burns said.

Is it ever appropriate to use free cash to avoid tax hikes?

“It can be. But right now, we are in such a deficit. When I came into office, we were well over 60% using free cash, which by our financial rules we are only supposed to have 20% being used for continuing funding of operations. Right now, we are making strides, but we’re still well above where we should be. We are down to 2%. Every year we are going to chip away with that. So, we are in a position to do something like that,” Barrett said.

“I think that using the surplus to your advantage, I mean that’s kinda of the way accounting works is you make sure you have a safety net, for example, and if ever times were to get tough, you should be able to use any resources available to alleviate the stress from homeowners and your residents,” Burn said.

Do you support raising taxes closer to the city’s Proposition 2 ½ cap and, if not, what spending would you cut?

“Well, the goal from this last two years is to get into a position where we are living within our means for a long-term period. We have to be disciplined, keep our costs below 2 1/2%. Some departments may edge up a little, but that we will take from others. So, 2 1/2% is where we have to be per Mass. state law so that where we are going to be. We just had to correct some major financial problems the last two years,” Barrett said.

“I believe that the budget was very firm under Fiorentini. I’m sure that there are those that say we kicked the can down the road. But, after the recent override, we’ve increased the budget over the past two years by $30 million when under the previous administration it was only projected to increase by $16 million. So, we have an additional $14 million now annually within our budget. I think there is plenty of money. So, my first thing is that I think we need to start with a zero budget. That means we are going to perform an audit first. That is going to be one of my first actions,” Burns said.

Would you favor a debt exclusion to build a replacement John Greenleaf School?

“I believe that’s probably the way it will have to go, up or down. If it goes down, we’ll figure out another way to do it because those children definitely need a newer facility to learn in. I think J.G. Whittier, some argued at the time, would have been the next school to do. Former Mayor Fiorentini chose to do the Consentino first. Both were in need, no denying that,” Barrett said.

“My big question to everybody on City Council and

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