LEOMINSTER — The Leominster City Council unanimously supported Mayor Dean Mazzarella’s $186,710,840 fiscal year 2027 budget during its meeting on Tuesday, May 26, 2026.
The budget, listed as communication C76 in the agenda, includes $186,038,999 to be raised from fiscal year 2027 revenues, along with $276,500 from the Gallagher Building Special Revenue Fund, $68,573 from the Cemetery Trust Fund, $76,768 from the Opioid Stabilization Fund and $250,000 from the assessor’s overlay account.
Finance Committee Chairperson Mark Bodanza said the budget represents an approximately $8 million increase over the prior fiscal year. He said the city remains in a strong fiscal position, noting that Leominster has a fully funded pension system, is funded at 105% and has $5.5 million in levy capacity that has not been taxed under Proposition 2½.
City Comptroller Jennifer Reddington told councilors the city has continued with a level-funded budget after a 4% decrease two years ago.
“It is a tough market out there for budgets as everybody has seen over the headlines in the past few weeks,” Reddington said. “We are no different.”
Reddington said city departments have worked “wonderfully” with the mayor to control costs and avoid budgeting for unnecessary spending.
“Through our budgeting process, we are able to keep funds down and then we, with your cooperation, come back to the council and seek additional funds if needed on the areas that are needed instead of just having a bloated budget of just in case,” Reddington said.
Councilor At Large Susan Chalifoux-Zephir then asked about the city’s school transportation contract, including whether the School Department or city negotiates the agreement. Reddington said the purchasing department works with the schools and described it as a collaborative effort that goes out to bid.
Chalifoux-Zephir also asked whether the contract is a multi-year contract or a specifically, a three year contract. Reddington said it is a multiyear contract, though she did not know the length of the contract off the top of her head.
“I don’t recall seeing it before us because I think anything longer than three years this council would have to approve,” Chalifoux-Zephir said. “So, it’s probably a three-year contract.”
Chalifoux-Zephir then discussed the city’s transportation policy, saying younger students qualify for transportation if they live a mile from school, middle school students qualify at a mile and a half, and high school students qualify if they live two miles away.
“So, every student in the city does not get transprotation,” Chalifoux-Zephir said.
Reddington said not every student in the city receives transportation, but many do, and that transportation costs also include additional services required for some students, including special education transportation requirements.
Ward 1 Councilor Eladia Romero raised concerns about recurring overtime costs, saying overtime has been consistently over $2 million during the past three fiscal years. Romero questioned whether part of that recurring cost should be built into the budget and whether relying on overtime rather than hiring more staff could contribute to increased health care costs, vacation and sick time buybacks, burnout or retention issues.
Reddington said the city reviews overtime regularly and was scheduled that week to meet with the city’s police and fire chiefs to discuss strategies. She said there is no guarantee that hiring additional employees would reduce overtime enough to offset the added expense.
“There’s no way to guarantee that hiring is going to solve the problem and that’s the biggest issue,” Reddington said. Later adding, “The city can’t afford to do both.”
No members of the public spoke during the public hearing on the general fund budget. The council later voted unanimously to support C76.
