As FY26 Budget Discussions Continue, City Councilors Call for Careful Future Consideration

FRAMINGHAM - Members of the Framingham City Council called for caution during future budget creation processes during their meeting on Tuesday, June 3.

The local legislative body carried out their first of two readings of the fiscal year 2026 budget during their recent meeting. Last week, the group’s Finance Subcommittee voted to recommend a budget of about $383 million. The subcommittee made a few tweaks to Mayor Charlie Sisitsky’s proposed budget from April, which totaled about $383.2 million.

The FY26 budget would represent a raise of about $24 million from the FY25 budget. Roughly $230.4 million from Sisitsky’s proposal is funded through the 2.5% local tax levy increase, while additional revenue sources include close to $108 million in state assistance, $25.4 million in local receipts, and $10 million in free cash.

During Tuesday’s City Council meeting at the Memorial Building, Brandon Ward of District 2 inquired if the decision to use $10 million in free cash would make an impact on next year’s budget process. Sisitsky explained that the city had $19 million in free cash initially for this year’s budget creation, adding that local officials will not know how much additional revenue they’ll generate—on top of the $9 million in free cash left over—until the fall.

At-Large City Councilor George King called these trends concerning. He said he wants the group to develop a more evenly-spread budget allocation moving forward.

“I think we are heading in a bad way…There’s a lot of things that would indicate that we could be heading in a bad position, and I think–personal opinion–we can do things less expensively and more efficiently,” King continued on Tuesday.

King pointed to about $183.1 million of the fiscal budget going to Framingham Public Schools as a factor to consider. He stressed that he wants to support the local school district and its services, but he called for more balance and efficiency across the municipal government.

The City Council voted 8-3 in favor of moving the FY26 budget along to a second reading during their meeting on Tuesday, June 10. Leading up to that, Ward urged his colleagues to consider that $10 million free cash figure once again.

“What I’m just advocating is that: if we’re not going to make those kind of cuts, then we should think about where the money’s coming from,” Ward said, “because the scale of the use of free cash just makes me really uncomfortable given the way the economy and the country look now.”