At Tuesday’s night’s Lynn City Council meeting the Council voted unanimously to confirm Michael Bertino as the city’s new Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Bertino’s contract will begin on Sept. 10 and expire in 2023. His salary has been set at $160,000.
Bertino, a Winthrop resident, has served as Somerville’s treasurer since 2016.
“I want to thank you for having me,” said Bertino at Tuesday’s Council meeting. “Most of you I have already met and I’m excited and looking forward to this opportunity of working with everyone, the Mayor and his staff, the citizens of Lynn as well as of all the council members. I’m energetic , I’m hungry and I want to help move the city forward.”
Bertino has over 20 years of finance experience in municipal, banking and corporate roles. He served for 11 years as finance director in his hometown of Winthrop.
Before becoming Somerville’s treasurer Bertino served for three years as West Newbury’s financial director.
Bertino began his career in finance at Boston Financial & Equity Corporation in 1993 as a staff accountant. From there, he moved onto a variety of more responsible roles as principal bank examiner with the Massachusetts Division of Banks & Loan Agencies and senior compliance officer with Wolf & Company.
He holds a bachelor of science degree in business administration and accounting from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and has completed 36 hours towards a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.
Bertino’s confirmation comes at a time when city officials are trying to close a budget gap.
In June the Council approved a $319.5 million budget. The FY19 budget specifically included funding to hire the city’s first full time Chief Financial Officer. Mayor Thomas McGee said hiring a full-time CFO will put Lynn in a better position to start getting a handle on its finances, plan for the future and become more financially stable.
“Michael (Bertino) is a great fit for the city, and I look forward to bringing him on,” said Mayor McGee. “One of my top priorities has been for us to hire a full-time CFO so we can work to get the city’s finances in order and we are now ready to move forward.”
To close the city’s growing fiscal crisis the city will borrow $9.5 million to close the FY 2018 budget gap and will borrow another $4 million for FY 2019. Back in February the Council voted in favor of a home rule petition that will allow the city to borrow up to $14 million from the Department of Revenue to close the city’s $8.1 million budget gap. The home rule petition that passed and was signed by Gov. Charlie Baker also raised some fees on residents and lifted a restriction that requires voter approval before the city can borrow more than $4 million.