Finance Subcommittee Votes to Recommend FY26 Budget to Full City Council

FRAMINGHAM - The Framingham City Council’s Finance Subcommittee approved most of the proposed municipal budget for the 2026 fiscal year during their meeting on Tuesday, May 27, setting the stage for the full body to vote on its final approval.

Mayor Charlie Sisitsky submitted his proposal for the FY26 budget, which totaled about $383.2 million, back in April. That figure would represent an increase of roughly $24 million compared to the nearly $358.9 million budget for FY25. Most of Sisitsky’s proposal is funded through the 2.5% local tax levy increase, which is slated to provide about $230.4 million. Revenue to fund his budget pitch also includes almost $108 million in state aid, $25.4 million in local receipts, and $10 million in available free cash.

The Finance Subcommittee’s meeting on Tuesday came following the final request from the School Committee regarding the upcoming annual budget for Framingham Public Schools (FPS). After weeks of analysis, education leaders got their budget request down to the roughly $183.1 million mark that Sisitsky had initially proposed, albeit with some layoffs and additional changes included in the reductions from their initial request.

The Finance Subcommittee was unable to add figures to the budget during their most recent meeting; they only had the power to make reductions to line items.

During Tuesday’s meeting, At-Large City Councilor George King made motions to reduce $135,000 for software purchases, with the intention of taking more time to understand where efficiencies and inefficiencies are within the municipal government in that regard.

Additionally, King moved that local legislators request Keefe Regional Technical School to bond funding for a feasibility study regarding the future creation of a new school building; King contended that doing so would save the city about $300,000, but the City Council does not have the authority to initiate that bond within the budget.

Finally, King requested a mere $1 reduction to the snow and ice budget within the city. As the snow and ice budget was fully used this past year and as the mayor’s administration can go over that figure if the budget is the same amount that was allocated in the previous year, King explained that a $1 reduction would permit local legislators to better monitor how those dollars are utilized in real time.

As the Finance Subcommittee prepped to vote on those amendments, District 4 City Council member Michael Cannon expressed his belief that there has been a lack of an “appetite” within the municipal government in recent years to keep the overall budget down. He added his concerns about how federal assistance—or lack thereof—could impact the local level.

“I think that this is the status quo now,” Cannon continued on Tuesday.

“We seemed to do a pretty good job in the first handful of years of us being a city keeping costs down and working collaboratively…I just fear that it’s going to be 2.5% (via the tax levy), and 2.5%, and 2.5%—and it’s not like taxes are cheap and it’s not like the community is affordable at this point.”

King also lamented another 2.5% increase to the tax levy, adding that Framingham should be weary of depending on free cash usage down the line.

“I do believe, as (Cannon seems) to, that there is going to be a time in the, probably, not-so-distant future, where things don’t work out quite as well,” King said at the Memorial Building.

“You look around, you see other municipalities where that has been the case: there’s a lot of overrides in the last couple of years—some successful, some not. So far we’ve been able to make it work, but one of these years that will probably be us, and then we’re going to have to deal with it.”

Eventually, the Finance Subcommittee voted to approve Sisitsky’s full budget proposal with the aforementioned tweaks. The full City Council is now primed to discuss the budget before providing their final approval in early June.