Leominster City Council adopts $186.7 million FY2027 budget; water and sewer budgets approved unanimously

The Leominster City Council on May 26 voted unanimously (9-0) to adopt the city's fiscal year 2027 general fund budget totaling $186,710,840 and separately approved the FY2027 water budget ($6,998,779) and sewer budget ($7,190,666) after committee review and public hearings that drew no public comments.

Mark Bedanzo, chairman of the finance committee, summarized the package and its fiscal context, highlighting a fully funded pension system and the city's excess levy capacity. "We were the first community in the state out of 104 pension systems to fully fund. We're currently funded at 105%," Bedanzo said, and he noted Leominster's relatively low indebtedness and available levy capacity of about 5.5%.

The comptroller provided an overview to the finance committee earlier in the hearing, describing the budget as largely level-funded after prior adjustments and noting personnel costs, collective bargaining and health insurance as primary drivers of cost increases. She said the administration used a mix of revenue sources to cover an approximately $8 million increase over the prior year, including Prop 2'''.5 levy capacity, new growth and expected local-aid increases.

Councilors asked detailed operational questions during the hearing: school transportation contracting and eligibility rules, the predictability of special-education transportation costs, and repeated concerns about persistent overtime spending (noted by one councilor as roughly $2 million in recent years) and the implications for hiring versus overtime use. The comptroller said the city reviews overtime patterns and meets regularly with department chiefs to evaluate needs; she also agreed to provide clearer budget-versus-actual reports to councilors and the public.

After committee recommendations, councilors conducted roll-call votes and adopted the water and sewer budgets and then the general fund budget by unanimous votes. The council also referred a number of mayoral appropriation requests to the finance committee for further review and approved a separate request to allow a four-year construction materials testing services contract for the new Fall Brook School project so testing services will remain under contract through project completion.

Next steps: referred appropriations will be considered in upcoming finance subcommittee meetings and several zoning and petition hearings were scheduled for June 8. The comptroller will provide requested budget-versus-actual details to councilors.

Sources: Comptroller overview and finance committee discussion; public hearings and roll-call votes at the May 26 Leominster City Council meeting.