Politics & Government
Somerville City Council Approves FY27 Budget With Record School Investment
The budget will take effect on Wednesday, July 1.
SOMERVILLE, MA — The City Council voted to approve the city's Fiscal Year 2027 budget during its most recent meeting, advancing a $394,172,946 spending plan that fully funds public schools while continuing investments in housing, public safety, infrastructure, and climate initiatives.
The budget, first proposed by Mayor Jake Wilson earlier this month, includes a $122,456,984 school budget, which city officials said represents the largest investment in Somerville Public Schools history. The spending plan adds five special education teachers, expands academic intervention and coaching positions, invests an additional $600,000 in substitute teachers, continues year-round MBTA passes for students in grades 7 through 12, and expands youth programming.
"I'm so grateful to everyone who helped shape this budget, from the community to the City Council to all the folks on the Schools and City teams who spent months and months on this work," Wilson said in a statement. "Despite the enormous fiscal challenges facing Massachusetts cities and towns this year, we still were able to make meaningful and sustainable new investments in our future, including the largest dollar increase in Somerville Public Schools history."
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The approved budget also continues funding for road and sidewalk maintenance, tree care, 311 services, rodent control, affordable housing development, tenant protections, and anti-displacement initiatives. It also supports continued Safe Streets projects, a co-response pilot program pairing clinicians with first responders during mental health emergencies, emergency traffic signal technology for Fire and EMS vehicles, expanded language access services, permitting reform, and additional neighborhood outreach.
The spending plan comes after city officials entered the budget process facing a projected $5.4 million shortfall driven by slowing revenue growth, rising fixed costs, and pressure on the commercial real estate market. According to the budget document, the administration balanced the budget by reducing non-personnel spending by approximately 5 percent, reorganizing city departments, strategically using reserve funds, and reducing staffing while maintaining core services. The adopted budget reflects a net reduction of 23.1 full-time equivalent positions compared to FY26.
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"This was one of the hardest budgets Somerville has faced in years, and the layoffs and reductions will have real impacts," Finance Committee Chair and Councilor-at-Large Ben Wheeler said in a statement. "I'm grateful we avoided cuts to our schools and larger cuts to City services. That was possible because of both the financial discipline of previous administrations, City Councils, and Finance Departments, along with extraordinary work of current City staff and Councilors, who spent long nights reviewing this budget."
With the budget now approved, city officials said departments will begin implementing the priorities funded through the spending plan during the upcoming fiscal year, including school investments, housing initiatives, public safety programs, climate resilience projects, and improvements to city services.
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