City Council

The special meeting of the Somerville City Council was called to order at 12:00 AM on June 4, 2026, with Councilor Lance Davis presiding.

Attendance:

• Present: Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen, Councilor Jon Link, Councilor J.T. Scott, Councilor Jesse Clingan, Councilor Kristen Strezo, Councilor Naima Sait, Councilor Ben Wheeler, Councilor Emily Hardt, Councilor Matt McLaughlin, Councilor Will Mbah, and Councilor Lance Davis.
• Quorum: 10 members present initially; Councilor Mbah joined shortly after the start of the presentation.

Mayor Jake Wilson presented Item 26-0950, requesting the appropriation of $376,778,493 to fund the Fiscal Year 2027 General Fund operating budget.

Key Financial Highlights:

• Structural Gap: The city faced a $5.4 million shortfall to meet level service costs due to inflation, rising healthcare costs, and the expiration of ARPA funds.
• Revenue Strategies: The administration updated fees and utilized over $14 million in stabilization funds to pay down debt and fund capital projects.
• Personnel Reductions: To close the deficit, 16 vacant positions were eliminated and 13 field positions were laid off (29 total positions).
• Bond Rating: Standard & Poor’s reaffirmed the city’s AAA bond rating on June 1, 2026.

Major Initiatives:

• Education: The budget includes the largest dollar investment increase in the history of Somerville Public Schools.
• Public Safety and Reform: Funding for a co-response pilot with mental health clinicians and the creation of a Police Accountability Program Director to launch civilian oversight.
• Infrastructure: Investments in rodent control (BurrowRx), fire response 'green wave' technology, and 'insourcing' DPW work like ADA ramp maintenance.
• Housing: Continued support for Clarendon Hill Phase II and 299 Broadway, along with legal support for tenants and immigrants.

The Council considered several appropriation requests for enterprise funds and the Community Preservation Act (CPA), all of which were referred to the Committee on Finance:

• Item 26-0953 (7.2): $794,782 for the Kennedy School Pool Enterprise Fund.
• Item 26-0954 (7.3): $237,500 for the Dillboy Fields Enterprise Fund.
• Item 26-0970 (7.4): $238,791 from Kennedy School Pool retained earnings.
• Item 26-0969 (7.5): $86,200 from Dillboy Fields retained earnings.
• Item 26-0968 (7.6): $8,367,344 in estimated FY2027 CPA revenue for projects and expenses.
• Item 26-0948 (7.7): Approval of expenditure limitations for departmental revolving funds.

Superintendent Rubén Carmona and CFO Dr. Bobby Barretta presented the School Department budget for FY2027 (Item 26-0974 and Item 26-0975).

Budget Overview:

• Total Request: $122,500,000, representing a 7.58% ($8.6 million) increase over FY2026.
• Personnel: $104.2 million. Includes five new special education teachers and a $600,000 increase for substitute staffing.
• Salary Drivers: Negotiated contracts resulted in an average salary increase of 8.19%.
• Equity Funding: Implementation of a new equity-driven formula for non-personnel school budgets, resulting in a 52% increase for East Somerville Community School.
• Grants: Approximately $8.8 million in federal and state grants supplement the local appropriation.

Discussion Points:

• SRO vs. SLO: Councilor Ewen-Campen inquired about the Student Liaison Officer (SLO) model. Superintendent Carmona confirmed the district is exploring a model that avoids criminalizing students while ensuring safety.
• Budget Transparency: Councilor Strezo requested more detailed line-item data. Dr. Barretta noted the district is procuring 'My Budget File' software ($15,000 implementation) to improve future reporting.

Councilors engaged in a detailed Q&A with the administration regarding the budget's impact:

• Performance Budgeting: Councilor Mbah questioned the lack of performance-based budgeting. Mayor Wilson stated the 'SummerStat' team would begin using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure outcomes.
• Stabilization Funds: Finance Director Ed Bean explained that the city is leveraging its 36% reserve ratio to draw down to a 30% target for one-time capital costs, such as the West Somerville Neighborhood School roof and Argenziano boilers.
• Procedural Limits: Councilor Scott clarified that under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 44, Section 32 (as applicable to Somerville), the Council can only reduce the Mayor's budget and cannot approve the higher funding recommendation suggested by the School Committee subcommittee without a resubmission from the Mayor.
• Police Budget: Councilor Scott noted that while the police budget appeared to decrease, this was due to moving 'CORE' clinician salaries ($228,000) to a separate line item for transparency.