By Adam Swift
The city council unanimously approved the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) budget, totaling $261.7 million, at Monday night’s meeting.
The budget presented by City Manager Fidel Maltez marked a 6.82 percent increase over last year’s budget. The proposed spending plan reflects the city’s commitment to public safety, education, and infrastructure investment while maintaining a disciplined fiscal approach, according to Maltez.
The vote came following council budget hearings with department heads and city finance officials.
Several councilors praised the budget presented by Maltez and Deputy City Manager for Finance Michael Mason, as well as the presentations by the various department leaders.
“This budget continues to build on our investments in public safety, education, and infrastructure while maintaining fiscal discipline,” said Maltez upon presenting the budget to the council earlier in the spring. “Chelsea’s financial health remains strong, and we are focused on balancing growth with affordability and essential services.”
The general fund is set at $110.8 million, while the school department would receive $150.9 million, underscoring Chelsea’s strong support for education, Maltez stated.
Monday night, District 7 Councilor Manuel Teshe said he supported the budget, but added that he will be making several requests related to public safety to Maltez in the coming weeks.
“I want to say that the impact that the Trump administration has had in our community has been heavy,” said Teshe. “There has been a lot of community mistrust that has been built because of people’s misconceptions that our police department has cooperated with ICE. Our inability to protect our people is being deteriorated by the day.”
In addition to those issues, Teshe noted that there have also been several severe violent crimes in the city over the past several months.
“This is when we need a stronger presence, this is when we need to increase the safety of our constituency here in the city of Chelsea,” said Teshe. “Population is on the rise in the city, and we cannot continue to do the work we have always done best if we use the same coverage of police; it is not going to be the same when you increase density.”
At the next council meeting, Teshe said he will be requesting that the city manager do an audit of cameras in the city to ensure that there is 100 percent video coverage.
“I have received multiple complaints from constituents who have said something happened to (them), but that there was no camera and no evidence that it happened,” said Teshe.
Teshe said he will also be requesting a stronger police presence on the streets to help deter crime.
District 8 Councilor Calvin Brown said the FY26 budget supports many important day-to-day operations in the city.
“It always sounds like a great number, but when it comes to running an organization, the city of Chelsea is a small city but it’s a big organization with a lot of work that has to be done here,” said Brown.
District 1 Councilor Todd Taylor said he supported the budget even though there was an increase over the FY25 budget.
“The increases that we saw in this budget were primarily for public safety, which we need, (Teshe) spoke about it, and I don’t think he’s going to get any argument from anyone about the increased need for public safety,” said Taylor. “The other thing was an increase in salaries and an increase in things where costs are going up, like insurance.”
Taylor said the city has no control over things like the 17 percent increase in health insurance costs.
“I think in general, there were some salary increases that were a little high, but these were supposedly to make up for the flatline years of Covid, where people were not getting a rate increase,” said Taylor. “I’m all for fairness, so I have no problem with those increases. Kudos to the city manager and the deputy city manager for putting together a budget which I believe was in bounds; it was somewhat conservative on a lot of things, but best of all, we have a remainder of free cash going into next year (of approximately $12 million).”
District 5 Councilor Lisa Santagate said she was especially impressed during the budget hearings by the goals set out by the department heads, both those that have been achieved over the past year and those planned for FY26.
“I feel like we are seriously getting our money’s worth from the staff and the initiatives,” said Santagate.
District 6 Councilor Giovanni Recupero thanked the city manager for the budget and its focus on providing constituent services.
“This city is a little city, but it has a big heart,” he said. “It takes care of the people who live here, all of them.”
Councilor-at-Large Roberto Jimenez Rivera highlighted the efficiency of the revamped city manager’s office over the past year.
“Last year, a lot of the discussion we had was about the significant growth we had in the budget we had for the city manager’s office,” said Jimenez Rivera.
He said those investments in the two deputy city managers and a constituent services director appear to have paid off.
Council President Norieliz DeJesus also praised the work of the city manager’s office and the department heads. In addition, she thanked the council for its ability to work together on the budget and for its members ability to provide a wide range of experiences and viewpoints to help the city run smoothly.