Salem approves FY2026 Public Services and Engineering budgets, including sidewalk and lead-service work

Salem City’s Administration & Finance Committee, convening jointly with the Committee of the Whole on June 4, approved a package of FY2026 operating and enterprise budgets for the Department of Public Services and the Engineering Department that funds sidewalk repairs, water and sewer operations, cemetery stormwater work and solid-waste programs.

The committee approved the Public Services general administration budget and separate enterprise budgets for water and sewer; it also approved engineering operating budgets and enterprise funding for water, sewer and solid-waste operations. Councilor Stott moved each recommendation and Councilor Harvey seconded; roll calls recorded unanimous yes votes from the four members present for each motion (Councilors Stott, Harvey, Chair Merkel and remote Councilor Davis). The approvals set the FY2026 spending levels the departments presented at the hearing.

The budget vote package matters because it allocates funds for maintenance and capital projects that city staff said are intended to address a multi-year backlog of sidewalks, complete targeted water and sewer repairs, and support stormwater and tree-planting work that staff say improves resilience and public safety.

Ray Jordan, Director of Public Services, told the committee the department’s FY2026 request includes continued investment in routine maintenance, stormwater and emergency response support, and targeted capital work. “They show up in snowstorms. They show up in windstorms,” Jordan said of his crews while thanking staff for emergency and event response. Jordan listed department responsibilities — sidewalk and street maintenance, stormwater, urban forestry and parks — and said DPW plans to plant about 240 trees in the coming season and to target approximately 15 percent of the open SeeClickFix sidewalk repair requests (about 78 locations) in FY2026.

Anna Friedman, Salem’s finance director, explained one budgetary practice that affects the snow-and-ice line: Under Massachusetts General Laws, she said, snow-and-ice accounts may be allowed to run a deficit during the year because winter costs are unpredictable; municipalities often approve a conservative appropriation and then do year-end transfers to cover any overage. “It is standard practice for municipalities to approve sort of an amount that we anticipate we would never go under, because once you increase that appropriation, you cannot cut it,” Friedman said.

Deb Duhamel, city engineer, and engineering staff highlighted several projects and regulatory deadlines. Duhamel said the city must finalize its lead service-line inventory by 2027 and complete a 10-year replacement program for city-side services by 2037 to meet state and federal requirements. She described work on a transmission main suspended beneath the Beverly–Salem bridge that has experienced joint failures and said staff are evaluating repair or replacement options; National Grid crews are currently working in the area.

Engineering and DPW staff reviewed capital priorities included in the city’s five-year plan. The largest single line is the sidewalk implementation project, intended to address a backlog of sidewalk repairs identified through SeeClickFix. Other capital items called out at the hearing included a Greenlawn Cemetery sewer upgrade and force main, permanent street-sweeping signage, a $100,000 lead-service inventory line item to begin removals, remediation work at Stella Lane storage yard, and vehicle purchases for parks and DPW operations.

Staff also updated the council on water-system work and system performance: last year the city recorded about 35 water-main breaks and 35 reported sewer backups (14 of which were determined to be the city’s responsibility). Engineering staff described an ongoing leak-detection and unaccounted-for-water effort and said some high unaccounted-for-water figures are linked to aging meters and to unmetered uses such as irrigation at some city parks. The city is piloting alternative meter hardware and an online customer usage dashboard; staff described that work as ongoing.

On longer-range facility planning, DPW and planning staff said they are studying capping the transfer station and options to relocate or rebuild the DPW facility as part of broader corridor planning, but noted the project’s timing and funding remain under study and depend in part on state and federal grant opportunities.

Votes at a glance

- Public Services — General Administration (personnel $2,233,067; expenditures $1,721,600; department total $3,954,667). Motion by Councilor Stott; second Councilor Harvey. Recorded outcome: approved. Vote: 4–0 yes (Stott, Harvey, Chair Merkel, Davis remote).

- Snow & Ice (personnel $50,000; expenditures $408,935; department total $458,935). Motion by Councilor Stott; second Councilor Harvey. Recorded outcome: approved. Vote: 4–0 yes.

- Public Services — Water Enterprise (personnel $616,575; expenditures $209,686; department total $826,261). Motion by Councilor Stott; second Councilor Harvey. Recorded outcome: approved. Vote: 4–0 yes.

- Public Services — Sewer Enterprise (personnel $553,600; expenditures $210,794; department total $764,394). Motion by Councilor Stott; second Councilor Harvey. Recorded outcome: approved. Vote: 4–0 yes.

- Engineering — General Administration (personnel $123,734; expenditures $16,000; department total $139,734). Motion by Councilor Stott; second Councilor Harvey. Recorded outcome: approved. Vote: 4–0 yes.

- Engineering — Water Enterprise (personnel $225,310; expenditures $935,404; department total $1,160,714). Motion by Councilor Stott; second Councilor Harvey. Recorded outcome: approved. Vote: 4–0 yes.

- Engineering — Sewer Enterprise (personnel $226,064; expenditures $992,000; department total $1,218,064). Motion by Councilor Stott; second Councilor Harvey. Recorded outcome: approved. Vote: 4–0 yes.

- Trash & Solid Waste (personnel $166,257; expenditures $4,841,566; department total $5,008,653). Motion by Councilor Stott; second Councilor Harvey. Recorded outcome: approved. Vote: 4–0 yes.

What’s next

Staff said work will continue on the capital projects listed in the five-year plan, and engineering and DPW will follow up with the council on details such as the annual paving list, sidewalk schedules and the lead-service inventory timeline. Staff also said they will continue to pursue state and federal grant funding — including FEMA and EPA grant processes discussed for the Willow Avenue / exposed sewer relocation — and will return with additional project-level details and schedules as those funding processes advance.

Sources and attributions

This article summarizes presentations and discussion at the Salem City Administration & Finance Committee / Committee of the Whole meeting on June 4, 2025. Direct quotations and attributions are to members of the meeting record: Ray Jordan, Director of Public Services; Deb Duhamel, City Engineer; and Anna Friedman, Finance Director. Other statements are summaries of staff presentations and committee discussion recorded in the meeting transcript.