On Thursday February 6, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller met with the Newton City Council to begin informal discussions on the City’s FY 2026 budget, covering the year starting July 1, 2025. The meeting, described as a “Mayoral Listening Session,” took place at the Allen House. The Mayor was flanked by Newton’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Jonathan Yeo and Council President (and mayoral candidate) Marc Laredo. Mayor Fuller is not seeking re-election in November.
Because the City Council was meeting as a Committee of the Whole, the meeting was conducted informally, without the Council’s usual rules for parliamentary procedure.
Mayor Fuller’s Opening Remarks
The Mayor said she and her staff believe they have a clear understanding of City revenues. She sought the City Council’s priorities and comments on categories of expenditures. The Mayor outlined her administration’s goals in budget planning, including the need to be responsive to unexpected events and to have a long-term strategy. She emphasized the constraints under which Newton operates, namely the requirement to balance the budget annually and Proposition 2 ½, which restricts increases in property tax revenues.
The Mayor then detailed the City’s projected revenues for Fiscal Year 2026, which are expected to total $548 million, with 83% coming from property taxes. The largest other sources of revenue are state aid, excise taxes, and building permits.
Turning to total projected expenses of $548 million, Mayor Fuller said that the $293 million allocation for the Newton Public Schools (NPS) represents an increase of 3.65% over the current year. She noted that while the allocation for NPS represents 53.5% of the City’s budget, significant parts of expenses that are categorized as “municipal expenditures” (for example, expenditures for school buildings) are directly related to the schools, in effect bringing expenditures directly related to schools to about 65% of the budget. The municipal segments of the budget are:
- 29.8% for municipal expenditures (police and fire, trash and recycling, road repair, snow removal, senior services, arts, and parks and recreation),
- 11.5% for pensions and health insurance for retirees, and
- 5.2% for municipal debt service.
Potential Risks
Addressing potential risks, the Mayor mentioned areas where rapid cost increases could put pressure on the budget. She noted that health insurance is expected to increase about 7.5%, sharply higher than the growth of City revenues. Additionally, if winters are more severe than anticipated, expenditures for snow and ice removal can greatly exceed what is allocated for them in the budget.
After her presentation, the Mayor asked Councilors for questions, feedback, and ideas. She responded extemporaneously, with care and detail, to the Councilors’ questions, occasionally asking Chief Financial Officer Maureen Lemieux and COO Yeo to provide their perspectives.
Councilor Lisle Baker asked about the risk of sharply reduced funding from the new federal administration. Mayor Fuller said that direct federal funding is 1% to 2% of the City’s budget. She acknowledged that one-quarter of the state budget comes from the federal government and that substantial changes could reduce the state’s ability to provide aid to cities and towns.
Council President Laredo asked about the costs of running the new Cooper Center for Active Living, scheduled to replace the former senior center later this year. The Mayor said that she and her staff are developing a budget for the Cooper Center and will provide new information as soon as possible.
Councilor Becky Grossman raised concerns about differing physical conditions of facilities, such as schools and playgrounds, and asked how to rectify it. The Mayor echoed the Councilor’s concerns and then spoke about the challenges of keeping neighborhood schools amid declining enrollment. She emphasized the value of neighborhood schools, but said that as school populations fall, it becomes increasingly expensive to provide necessary staff such as librarians, academic and emotional support staff, and nurses. She said combining schools is painful, but sometimes necessary.
Councilor Josh Krintzman asked about contingency plans if federal and state aid vanishes. Mayor Fuller responded that the administration has experience from March 2020, when the pandemic struck and reduced City revenues. She assured the Council that the FY2026 budget would be conservative enough to be able to withstand reductions in federal and state aid.
Economic Development
Councilor Albright said that the City should place more focus on economic development to increase revenues, noting that Newton has only a single person hired to work on economic development.
Councilor Alison Leary highlighted the success that Watertown has had in commercial development, contrasting that with Newton. Mayor Fuller noted that Newton’s high cost of land means that housing is often the most likely option for developing available land. She continued by saying that “the special permit granting process is not easy here in Newton,” and that it is run by elected officials (the City Council) and “often ends up with great results but usually is a bit slow.”
She said of Newton, “We ask a lot when people come in to develop, … we want these buildings to be sustainable, we want open space, we want them to be attractive, and in scale for the neighbors. We are understandably demanding.”
The Mayor concluded by asking Councilors to provide further comments on budget priorities in the next few weeks before her office begins to finalize the budget in March.
See NewTV’s video of the event and the Mayor’s presentation slides.
