By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — The FY2026 budget process continues as the Town Council approved 10 more departmental budgets this week. All budgets are also scrutinized by the Finance Committee before going before the voters at the Annual Town Meeting in the spring.
With the exception of the Reserve Fund, all of this week’s Town Council budget votes were unanimous.
Assistant Town Administrator/Chief Financial Officer Kevin Gill presented each budget with new Town Accountant Elizabeth Rourke alongside.
Gill said that collectively, the 10 budgets were up 1.9 percent over last year. Including the budgets presented at the Jan. 28 Town Council meeting, the overall increase so far is 0.9 percent.
Gill began with the Town Treasurer’s budget, which included an increase of $10,679 over last year. That increase was mostly in the personal services line item and included a 3 percent raise for the Town Treasurer. After a brief discussion, the Town Council approved the FY2026 Treasurer’s budget at $255,406.
Moving to the Fire Alarm/Traffic Signals budget, Gill said that that budget was being increased by $5,489 to a total of $78,000. After some discussion where it was explained that off-duty firefighters are employed to maintain the town’s fire alarms, traffic signals and public safety dispatch systems, the Town Council approved the budget.
After a brief discussion, the $90,030 Emergency Management budget was approved, including a $1,777 increase in the personal services line item for a 3 percent salary increase for the Emergency Management Director.
The FY2026 Inspectional Services (Building Department) budget was approved at $506,867 with an increase of $18,385. All of the increase was in personal services for negotiated contractual salary increases. It was noted that Inspectional Services is a revenue producing department.
The Recreation Department budget was approved at $136,136, including an increase in personal services of $5,322. Gill noted that this is a self-funded budget, supported by fees. He said that fees collected are transferred from a revolving account to the General Fund to support the Recreation Department budget.
The Street Lights Budget was approved at $178,131, which reflects a reduction of $10,000 from last year. Gill attributed the reduction to the town’s decision several years ago to switch to LED street lights. He said that the budget would continue to go down once the town finishes repaying the Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department for capital expenditures for the switchover.
The most discussion of the evening was devoted to the smallest budget on the agenda, the Historical Commission’s level-funded $2,000 request. Councilors debated whether there should be funding available if the Commission needs to consult with a preservationist or obtain estimates for a project. It was suggested that such funding would be better included in a separate Town Meeting article, where it could be carried over until needed, as opposed to being part of an annual budget request. The Town Council approved the budget.
The Unemployment budget was approved at a level-funded $75,000. The budget includes $50,000 for the School Department and $25,000 for the town. Gill explained that the breakdown is based on the fact that the School Department represents two-thirds and the total town payroll.
Things got a bit testy during the discussion of the $400,000 Reserve Fund budget. Councilor Edward Dombroski wondered if this budget could be decreased based on recent usage patterns.
Town Councilor Jonathan Chines advocated for keeping it at $400,000, noting that any unused funds are returned to the Free Cash account and applied to the following years budget.
But Dombroski argued that the larger amount still winds up being paid by the taxpayers even if leftover amounts wind up in a special pool of money. He also noted that a measure spearheaded by Chines several years ago limits the town’s ability to apply Free Cash in a way that provides relief to taxpayers.
The Town Council approved the Reserve Fund budget by vote of 6-1, with Dombroski opposed.
The final budget of the evening was the Professional Medical budget. This budget pays for physicals for new town employees, as well as the more rigorous Police and Fire department examinations. The budget was approved at a level-funded $15,300.