City Manager Fidel Maltez has placed an emphasis on communicating with residents since he took office last year. Earlier this week, Maltez recorded the latest in his series of public outreach videos to air on Chelsea Community TV. The text of his April video, which focuses on the city’s FY26 budget, is below:
Hello Residents of Chelsea, welcome to Our Community! My name is Fidel Maltez, and it is my honor to serve as your City Manager.
Today, I want to talk with you, residents, families, business owners, and community leaders, about our Fiscal Year 2026 budget. Preparing and adopting Chelsea’s annual operating budget is the most important responsibility we share. Our annual budget funds critical services like our police, fire, public works, our senior center, our library, and Chelsea public schools among many others. Our annual budget isn’t just a financial document, it’s a reflection of our community’s values, priorities, and future direction. Our budget is guided by key policy objectives. The first is financial stability, which means ensuring a balanced budget, maintaining strong reserves, and managing debt responsibly.
Second is economic development which means supporting local businesses, fostering job growth, and making strategic investments in the city’s future. Third is neighborhood enhancement which means replacing aging infrastructure, improving public spaces, and enhancing the quality of life for residents. Fourth is community development which means expanding access to resources, social services, and public programs that benefit all Chelsea residents. And most importantly, Public Safety, which means strengthening emergency response, increasing staffing in police and fire departments, and ensuring a safe community.
Now let’s discuss how the budget is funded. Approximately 55% is funded through state aid, primarily from Chapter 70, that supports Chelsea Public Schools. Our second largest revenue source, approximately 40%, comes from taxes, including property taxes, excise taxes, meals and hotel taxes. Property Taxes in Massachusetts are controlled by Proposition 2-½, which limits annual increases to 2.5%. The remaining 5% of the budget consists of charges for services, such as trash fees, licensing and permit fees, interfund transfers, and earnings from city investments. All of these revenue sources collectively support Chelsea’s operating budget, ensuring that we can maintain and enhance city services while balancing financial responsibility and long-term sustainability. While revenues are currently healthy, we recognize the incredible
uncertainty around the economy, both locally and globally.
Next let’s look at how our expenses are divided. First, we are investing in our future, in our children. Education accounts for over 58% of the city’s budget, demonstrating our dedication to providing quality public education. The second largest expenditure category is public safety,
with over 12%, allocated to police, fire, and emergency management services, highlighting our commitment to keeping our residents safe. State mandated costs account for 9% of the budget.
These are required payments beyond local control. 8% of the budget goes to city employee benefits, such as healthcare and retirement. General government, including health and human services, accounts for 5% of the budget. 4% of our budget goes to public works. 1.6% goes to debt payments for previous loans.
Our budget this year faced significant challenges. First, our Chelsea Public Schools’ requires additional support to prevent funding cuts to school services. Supporting our schools is central to our values. Second, Chelsea received a significant increase in Health Insurance costs. This is a trend that is affecting many cities in Massachusetts. Third, debt payment for the new Northeast Vocational School is significantly going up, as the new school nears completion. We
are excited about this new facility and the benefits it will bring Chelsea students. Fourth, we received an increase in our retirement appropriation, which is our payment for retirement benefits for employees. Finally, we signed five-year contracts for trash hauling and trash disposal, and while these contracts will result in long-term savings, we are seeing higher costs this year.
In our Police Department, we have added an additional Staff Sergeant, to accommodate a new Police Schedule, which was successfully rolled out in January 2025. This new schedule involves
working 4 10-hour days, followed by 4 days off. This new schedule has been increasingly adopted by police departments in our region. It provides consistent coverage across all shifts while allowing officers time to rest and recover, contributing to better mental and physical health, reduced burnout, and higher morale, which in turn improves performance.
In our Fire Department, we have added four new firefighters. This is step 1 of a multi-year effort to get our Fire Department to 106 firefighters. Today, Chelsea operates with three engines, located strategically throughout the City. Adding a fourth engine, called Engine 4, will expand our ability to keep our city safe, particularly when there are multiple incidents at the same time.
This additional engine will be critical in responding to large fires. Last year, our fire department responded to 13 working fires, including 8 multiple alarm fires. Launching Engine 4 is a proactive effort that will add much needed capacity to our firefighting efforts.
In Public Works, we propose bringing vehicle maintenance in-house. The city has outsourced vehicle maintenance since receivership in the 1990s. Over the years, the city has slowly taken back services in-house, when it is prudent and financially feasible. In the fiscal year 2026 budget, we have incorporated two positions, a mechanic supervisor and a mechanic, that will allow us to complete this transition. This transition will ultimately result in cost savings for our
city, but more importantly it will result in more local control and improved service for our vehicles.
An important part of our budget is our Capital Improvement Plan which continues to invest in the infrastructure that supports daily life in Chelsea. Our plan invests $1.2 Million in public safety, replacing police cruisers, fire equipment, radios, and making traffic safety improvements.
We will invest close to $2 Million to replace roadways and sidewalks, as well as support streetscape enhancements and transportation improvements. $6.5 million is committed to improving and expanding the city’s open space resources, along with planning and designing for
climate resilience. $3.7 million will fund important infrastructure investments, including utility replacements and stormwater drainage improvements. Finally, $5 million will go toward majornrenovations in public buildings such as City Hall, Chelsea High School, and the Early Learning Center.
This year, we are mindful of economic challenges and the need to find efficiencies while still making key investments that move Chelsea forward. I want to reassure you that a great deal of
thought and effort goes into developing a budget that serves the needs of our community.
Federal decisions may have significant impacts on both the state of Massachusetts and the City of Chelsea, but we cannot build a budget around worst-case scenarios that we cannot predict.
We are committed to funding essential services and critical infrastructure. Given the uncertainty at the federal level, we are not including discretionary or “nice-to-have” items in this budget.
The budget process isn’t something we want to do in isolation at City Hall. Your voice matters. This year we have scheduled Community Budget Presentations – the first held in March and the
next on April 15. In May, we’ll hold budget meetings with the City Council, where you can follow the conversations and share your feedback. We deeply value community input in shaping
Chelsea’s budget priorities. We encourage you to ask questions, provide feedback, and share ideas on how we can continue to improve our city’s financial planning and services.
We are releasing our detailed FY26 Budget Book in April, alongside an interactive website the budget team has been working on with OpenGov.
In June, we will host a public hearing, leading up to the City Council’s vote on the FY26 budget. The new budget will officially take effect on July 1, 2025.
Finally, please join us on April 26 at 9 a.m. for our Chelsea Day Clean Up, and at 1 p.m. for our Annual Peace Vigil in the City Hall lawn.
See you next time on Our Community. Thank you and May god bless the City of Chelsea.