On May 19, the Newton City Council voted unanimously to approve Mayor Ruthanne Fuller’s proposed $623 million FY2026 budget. (Ward 6 Councilor Alan Lobovits and Ward 3 Councilor Pamela Wright were absent.)
The Council took several different votes regarding the appropriation of various funds for FY2026 before the final vote on the Mayor’s proposed budget was taken.
Before the Council voted on the Mayor’s allocation of funding for the Newton Public Schools (NPS), Finance Committee Chair Leonard Gentile (Ward 4) announced that he had received word of a compromise between the School Committee and Mayor Fuller on the issue of Free Cash appropriations to NPS in order to close a deficit in the NPS operating budget.
The compromise included the allocation of four separate Free Cash items, two of which had already been approved by the City Council. The next two, which amounted to $1.1 million and $1.425 million, were not voted on during the meeting, as Councilor Gentile said they had not been placed on the City Council’s agenda. The City Council voted only on the Mayor’s base allocation in funding for the NPS budget, which amounted to $292,963,623.
Before voting on the Mayor’s NPS funding allocation, City Councilors spoke about the district’s funding challenges and their hopes for the future of the NPS budgeting process.
Councilor Rebecca Grossman (Ward 7) said that while she intended to vote in favor of the Mayor’s NPS funding allocation and appreciated the work that went into the aforementioned compromise, she had some remaining concerns about NPS funding in the years to come. She referred to the FY2026 NPS Budget as being “put together with Scotch tape,” calling the challenges of the annual budgeting process “financial gymnastics.”
“We still aren’t even at the Level Service+ number with this compromise. I understand that the reductions that are being made are not student-facing or affecting current, employed staff members, but it’s certainly not moving the ball forward, and I think that’s what we desire for education in our community,” she said.
Councilor Stephen Farrell (Ward 8) said that he believed that the City’s budgeting process needed to be dramatically reshaped in the years to come, suggesting that major changes to Newton’s charter could be necessary.
“I do think that the City Council and the next Mayor need to look at a new process, and I think that truly means changing the charter,” he said. “I think it means giving the Council some power to be able to negotiate earlier on with the Mayor about how the budget will come out.”
Councilor John Oliver (Ward 1) said that while the City Council was sure to face more challenges in the future regarding funding for NPS, he pointed to two “silver linings,” expressing hope for the future.
“I think that this Council is forging a much better, much more productive, relationship with our School Committee, and I’d like to see that continue and grow,” he said. “I think we also went through a bit of a process that helped us all look at the shared challenge that we have in front us …we have some difficult times in front of us. We just cleared a short-term hurdle; we’ve probably got a little bit of a mid-term hurdle, perhaps …and then we’ve got some levers we’ve got to start to reach for and manipulate, but I’m looking forward to it.”
All City Councilors present at the meeting voted to approve the Mayor’s allocation of funding for NPS, with the exception of Councilor Farrell, who abstained from voting. (City Council President Emeritus R. Lisle Baker (Ward 7) was absent for this vote but present for the final vote. Councilors Lobovits and Wright were absent for both votes.)
After the final vote on the City-wide FY2026 budget, City Council President Marc Laredo (Ward 7) reflected on the budgeting process.
“I have to say, I am exceptionally proud of how this City Council has conducted itself,” he said. “There was spirited, heartfelt debate and comment on the various resolutions before us. I think there was a concerted effort among Councilors to both understand the issues at play, to work with the Superintendent and the School Committee and the Administration to express those concerns, and that’s exactly what this body should be doing.”
After being invited to speak, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller took a moment to thank everyone involved in the budgeting process.
“We are blessed to have people with such care, such experience, with such wisdom, certainly surrounding me, but I would say surrounding all of us,” she said. “We’re really lucky people, in this chaotic world, to have this community, this staff, these elected officials.”
See NewTV’s video of the City Council meeting.
Theo Younkin is a Fig City News student reporter, a rising senior at Newton South High School, and former Co-Managing Editor of the NSHS Lion’s Roar.
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