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Council approves several free‑cash transfers and sets revolving fund spending limits
Summary
The council approved multiple FY26 free‑cash transfers totaling several hundred thousand dollars to cover compensated absences, insurance and legal expenses, firefighter overtime, school technology needs and police vehicles, and also set annual spending limits for revolving funds as an emergency measure.
The Newburyport City Council approved a series of free‑cash transfers and an emergency measure setting spending limits for revolving funds.
Council approved Transfer 255 ($140,000) to cover a compensated‑absences shortfall driven by retirements; Transfer 256 ($449,120) covered insurance, legal and health insurance shortfalls; Transfer 257 ($225,000) addressed firefighter overtime and injured‑on‑duty payments; Transfer 258 accessed school technology funds from building technology reserves (approximately $152,000) for projector and network upgrades; and Transfer 259 shifted roughly $58,000 within the police budget to purchase a replacement cruiser and outfit honor guard members.
Separately, the council approved Order 858, an emergency preamble to set annual spending limits for multiple revolving funds, restoring limits to last year’s levels to avoid loss of spending authority after July 1. Councilors discussed the Municipal Modernization Act that allows revolving funds to persist across fiscal years but noted the need to set limits annually and to improve mid‑year forecasting to avoid repeated year‑end transfers.
Councilors pressed finance staff on improved reporting cadence and called for stronger forecasting practice to reduce reliance on free cash to balance recurring obligations. Votes on the transfers and the revolving fund limits passed by voice or roll call as recorded on the floor.
