By Adam Swift
The preliminary Fiscal Year 2027 municipal operating budget for Chelsea is slated to increase by 4.8 percent over the current fiscal year’s budget.
The preliminary figure of $116 million that City Manager Fidel Maltez presented to the city council this week covers the municipal side of the FY27 budget. The school’s operating budget, which typically accounts for approximately 60 percent of the city’s overall spending, is still under review by the school district.
The city council approved an FY26 budget last year of $261.7 million, with $110.8 million for the city-side of the budget and just under $151 million for the schools.
The increase in the municipal budget of 4.8 percent is the lowest annual increase since FY22, according to the city manager. Maltez said that figure is not easy to achieve, particularly when costs outside the city’s control are factored into it.
“In fact, if we removed these unavoidable or non-negotiable costs, our budget would increase by a very sensible and conservative 0.92%,” Maltez stated. “In other words, the majority of this year’s increase, or 3.88%, are ‘non-negotiable items.’”.
To put it further in perspective, Maltez said that in FY2022, the city’s health insurance costs went up by $25,000.
“This year, they are going up by $1,053,545 – this is after we made some tough decisions and project using some of it in our Trust Fund,” Maltez said. “In FY2024, we paid $1.4 Million for Regional Schools; this year we will pay $3.2 Million due to our share of the costs of the new Vocational School in Wakefield, Charter School costs are going (up) by $2.6 Million – in FY24, this line increased by $560,000.
“This perfect storm is affecting most cities and towns around us.”
Maltez said the city is being fiscally responsible at this moment, while keeping the tremendous momentum it has built.
“I firmly believe that this budget achieves that balance,” Maltez stated. “We will also continue leading the effort for New Growth, which is going to be our way out of this storm.”
The city administration has scheduled two community meetings on the FY2027 operating budget. The first will be on March 25 and the second will be on April 15.
“Both will be at 6 PM at the Chelsea Senior Center,” said Maltez. “We will provide pizza and will brand it as a ‘Budget and Bites’ Information Session. Please join us for these sessions as we prepare the final budget for submission to our City Council on May 1, 2026.”