Framingham Finance Subcommittee Meeting: June 4, 2026 Budget & Action Items
Framingham City Council Finance Subcommittee Meeting - June 4, 2026
The Finance Subcommittee met to discuss and vote on several action items including funding for adaptive PE equipment, a donation account for the Blazers Community Band, and labor agreements for firefighters. The committee also continued its review of the Fiscal Year 2027 city budget, focusing on DPW, Public Health, Human Resources, and Legal departments. Key decisions included unanimous approval of two action items and tabling the creation of a revolving fund for the municipal aggregation program.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes of May 20, 2026: Approved unanimously (5-0).
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public spoke.
Discussion Items
- Adaptive PE Equipment for FPS: Councilor Cannon requested consideration of funding adaptive physical education equipment for the public school's special education department, previously approved by the Disability Commission in April 2026. The CFO will work with the Disability Commission on processes. Moved to recommend favorable action; voted unanimously (5-0).
- Blazers Community Band Donation Account: The CFO requested establishment of a donation account for the Blazers Community Band, a program under Parks and Recreation. Discussion clarified that the band is not a separate 501(c)(3) but a city program. Councilors expressed concerns about the Friday night concert series schedule and fundraising. Motion to recommend favorable action passed unanimously (5-0).
- Firefighters MOA (Local 1652): CFO presented a three-year memorandum of agreement with the Framingham Fire Union costing approximately $500,000 in year one, $586,665 in year two, and $563,805 in year three, including 2% COLA and step adjustments. Councilor Stefanini requested a delay to review the full contract. Motion to continue to next meeting passed unanimously (5-0).
- Deputy Fire Chiefs MOA (Local 1652): Similar MOA for deputy fire chiefs with new language for overtime pay (time-and-a-half). Councilor King asked about coverage for vacation absences. Motion to continue to next meeting for contract details passed unanimously (5-0).
- Municipal Aggregation Revolving Fund (Order 2026-059): Sustainability Coordinator Sean Lotz proposed establishing a revolving fund from a 0.1 cent/kWh operational adder on the Framingham Community Electricity program. The adder has already collected $162,607.83; $200,000 spending authorization requested for clean energy incentives (solar, heat pumps) and commercial-scale investments. Councilors expressed concerns about the adder functioning as a hidden tax and asked for more specific project guardrails. The fund would expire to free cash if not established by June 30. Motion to table until after June 16 at the Chair's discretion passed 4-1.
- FY27 Budget – DPW: Public Works Director Peter Lewis discussed department budgets including administration, engineering, fleet, and sanitation. Topics included the $6 million road program (up from $3 million), long-term pavement needs (e.g., Cochituate Road at $6 million), and potential municipal composting. Each budget line item was approved unanimously (5-0) with individual votes.
- FY27 Budget – Public Health: Health Director Bill Murphy discussed cuts to the public health nurse (reduced from 10 hours to 7 hours per week at $36,482) and the loss of a grant manager. Councilor Stefanini moved to hold the account open for the mayor to explore restoring funds. The item was tabled for further review (5-0).
- FY27 Budget – Human Resources: HR Director discussed health insurance cost drivers, including unexpected enrollments from employees losing spousal coverage. CFO noted plans to explore self-insurance options but estimated changes would take 18+ months. The HR budget was approved unanimously (5-0).
- FY27 Budget – Legal: Councilors expressed frustration with delayed legal opinions. City Solicitor acknowledged being understaffed (only two lawyers) and requested written requests for quicker service. The legal budget was approved unanimously (5-0).
Key Outcomes
- Adaptive PE Equipment: Recommended favorable action to City Council (unanimous, 5-0).
- Blazers Band Donation Account: Recommended favorable action to City Council (unanimous, 5-0).
- Firefighters MOA (Local 1652): Continued to next subcommittee meeting (unanimous, 5-0).
- Deputy Fire Chiefs MOA: Continued to next subcommittee meeting (unanimous, 5-0).
- Municipal Aggregation Revolving Fund: Tabled until after June 16 at Chair's discretion (4-1).
- DPW Budget Lines: Administration, engineering, fleet, sanitation, highway approved individually (each 5-0).
- Public Health Budget: Tabled for further review (5-0).
- HR Budget: Approved (5-0).
- Legal Budget: Approved (5-0).
- MMA Fee Inquiry: Councilor Cannon requested a comprehensive total of all amounts paid to the Massachusetts Municipal Association, including membership and additional costs, for the next meeting.
Meeting Transcript
The finance subcommittee of the city council is comprised of five council members and considers any or all questions appropriate for the purpose of considering the budget, including the creation of new positions to the payroll, changes to the employee classification plan or any matters pertaining to increasing the City of Framingham employee headcount. The following City Council Finance Subcommittee meeting coverage is brought to you by the government channel, a service of the City of Framingham. First order of business is public participation. If there's anybody in the room that wants to publicly participate on an item that's not on the agenda other than the budget, feel free to raise your hand and we will call we you will be recognized. Please raise your hand. Seeing none. Minutes of May 20th, 2026. Is there a motion to approve as presented? So moved. Motion by Canon, second by Stephanie. All those in any further discussion, all those in favor, raise your hand. Voted unanimously. Action items, discussion votes. Order. Upon the request of Council Cannon, on behalf of the Disability Commission, a direct referral to the Finance Subcommittee consideration of funding adaptive P equipment for FPS. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. Yes, briefly, and thank you to uh Chairman King and to you, Mr. Chairman, for taking this out of order. This is something that was approved by the Disability Commission back in April with everything going on with the budget. They're gonna um the CFO is going to work with the disability commission once things settle down on some processes that need to be uh looked at. But um for the sake of time, I don't I this is a pretty routine request for some adaptive PE uh equipment that'll be used by the public school system in their special ed department, and I would uh recommend I would move that we recommend favorable action. I got a motion there a second council, thank you. Second, any further discussion? Council Malik. Um is the motion that we send it back to the council for full approval or that we approve it? Because I respect the speeding up that it came to us not from the council, but it feels like sending it back to the council just so they have eyes on it might be worth it. That's what you're planning to do. Okay, great. Yes, I'm sorry if that was unclear. So we'll go to the council and um they will approve it. Can I ask a question? How did it get to us? Because he asked me to put it on as a referral lost on the weeds. It had been ling lingering in um uh somewhere in the administration outside of the finance department uh since April. There are some long-standing challenges with process that I have all the confidence in the world will be revisited and uh improved upon. Okay. We don't really care about rules, but it really should be referred by the other chair. It was it was it was but he thanked he got oh, I thought you were saying you know can't King, he said he thanked Councillor King as the chair of the city council and me as chair of the finance subcommittee because council king. I'm sorry, I lost that. So good, good, good. But just as a matter of policy and protocol, I mean I did it because I wanted to make it as transparent as we could, and I felt it was worthwhile. However, the Charter allows the finance subcommittee to take stuff up on its own, so it didn't necessarily require that. Other committees have no problem doing that. Right, and other committees also have the right now under our rules to do that. So I think we're better off when we at least have a formal referral process, even if it's the way we do it just by noticing it on our on our major agendas. But I hear you. Good. Okay. We do follow the rules.
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