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Somerville mayor urges council to reverse sudden cut to executive-office salary as budget debate continues
Summary
Mayor Ballantine told the council the June 25 vote to cut $186,744 from the Executive Office administration salaries line threatened a staff member's job and warned the action hurt recruitment and morale. The council debated the cut, then voted 9-2 to keep the reduction; a later motion to reconsider failed unanimously.
Mayor Ballantine and members of the Somerville City Council traded sharp public remarks Wednesday over a last-minute budget cut the council adopted earlier this week that targeted the Executive Office administration salaries line.
The mayor told the council the cut'which would remove $186,744 from the FY 2026 executive salaries line'put a staffed position at immediate risk and amounted to an unjust public dismissal. "No one should expect their livelihood to be subjected to what amounts to surprise dismissal in this public forum," Ballantine said. She asked the council to reconsider the change and warned that public targeting of staff would make it harder to recruit and retain qualified employees.
Council members defending the cut said the vote was an exercise of the council's appropriations authority and not meant as a personal attack on any…
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