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Holyoke mayor, finance committee reconcile supplemental FY2026 budget and restore DPW lines
Summary
Committee moved a supplemental FY2026 budget packet to the full City Council after the mayor and auditor identified oversights and agreed to restore certain DPW lines (property maintenance/demolition worker and HMEO positions), producing an overall net reduction of $299,656 after corrections.
The Holyoke Finance Committee on Monday reviewed a supplemental FY2026 budget packet and voted to forward it to the full City Council after correcting several line-item oversights.
Mayor (unnamed) summarized the supplemental as a realignment intended to ‘right-size’ the levy and explained that while the term supplemental implies adding funds, the packet as presented decreased the levy-limit totals. ‘‘We’re looking at an overall reduction of the city budget,’’ the mayor told the committee, and later clarified that after restoring missed lines the net reduction becomes $299,656.
Committee members identified two significant oversights: a DPW property maintenance and demolition worker salary line that had been left at zero because the incumbent has been out on workers’ compensation, and an HMEO line where one restored position was requested (an increase of $33,900). The mayor and department staff asked that those lines be left as originally budgeted rather than reduced in the supplemental, to preserve the employee salary and associated workers’ compensation accounting. The mayor said he would submit an amended front page to reflect these corrections before the packet goes to the full council.
City planning and OPED items were discussed within the supplemental, including an OPED contracted-services request for $42,000 (see separate article). The committee agreed to send the full supplemental package to council with the mayor’s corrections; a motion to do so carried by voice vote.
What happens next: The mayor will provide an amended supplemental front page and the City Council will consider the packet, at which point councilors may offer line-item cuts or amendments during the council’s review and vote.
