Brockton, Massachusetts

8 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 10 BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS means that we have opportunities to grow and attract industries,” Jenkins explains. “And being the largest city in southwest Massachusetts, that’s very important for us. A lot of the communities around us are on well and on septic and they’re very limited in their ability to attract industry. We offer both a way of life and an opportune business environment here. So whether you’re starting your family or starting your business, this is the place you want to be.” Brockton is in the process of investing $98 million into the development of a new public safety building, which Sullivan hopes will be a further sign to developers and businesses that the city is open and ready. “When we have developers coming to Brockton it tells them, ‘Hey, we have skin in the game, we’ve taken almost $100 million and we’re investing it,’” Sullivan says. The new facility will include a new police station, fire station, the city’s IT department and BEMA– Brockton’s Emergency Management Agency. Sullivan adds, “We’ve done some friendly takings where the city has acquired some residential properties and we’re going to be a city block now. It’s going to have state-of-the- art technology with all the bells and whistles and it will be friendly to customers, taxpayers, constituents, and residents. It’s a game-changer for the area.” The public safety building investment was done without raising taxes, something Clarkson says the city’s administration is always mindful of. He notes, “It costs to do business in the city, so for our businesses we didn’t raise taxes. We did it within our budget, which is extremely difficult to do, but that was a priority of the Mayor.” The city was able to accomplish this by issuing $300 million in pension obligation bonds. Over a period of 15 years, they hope to fully fund Brockton’s pension liability and save $90 million in the process.