Mayor Mitchell submits $561 million FY26 budget; council refers nine appropriation orders to committee

Mayor Jonathan F. Mitchell submitted the City of New Bedford's proposed fiscal year 2026 budget to the City Council and residents, saying the $561,000,000 spending plan ‘‘sustains services at levels our residents expect and deserve and avoids unduly burdening taxpayers.’’

Mitchell told the council the proposal comes amid a ‘‘relatively stable local economy’’ — with an unemployment rate around 5% — but warned that structural budget pressures limit the city's flexibility. He singled out rising school obligations, pension payments and employee health insurance as the primary drivers of cost increases and urged the state to increase unrestricted local aid.

The mayor said the proposed total budget is $561,000,000, with a general fund of $500,400,000. He attributed most of the year-over-year increase to legally mandated school funding, pension payments and health insurance costs, and said the proposed general fund budget would fund two fewer net employees than the current year. "We just can't afford it right now," he said.

Mitchell quantified several budget pressures and program details: he said the city's pension system is about 54.5% funded and projected that in roughly 10 years the city could be paying "$71,000,000 just in that 1 year"…