5 days ago
Chicopee's next budget is 6% hike from this year. Here's where spending has increased
CHICOPEE — The Chicopee City Council approved its 2026 budget: $276.2 million, 6.45% up over the current year.
On Thursday night, heads of six departments in the city, including Mayor John Vieau, schools Superintendent Marcus Ware and Sharyn Riley, the auditor, discussed their planned spending in the upcoming year.
The mayor's office was cleared for $563,669.96, a 27% increase from this year's spending. Part of the reason for the hike is because the mayor wants to take a thorough look at more city departments — there is about $40,000 set aside for 'consulting services.'
'We recently used consulting for (the Human Resources Department), and I next want to use it for (Information Technology),' said Vieau.
In December, the mayor hired an independent consultant to investigate the HR department, which dealt with a host of problems in the years leading up the investigation. In April, the city appointed a new director for the department.
Vieau also said that he would be pausing the city's search for an economic development director, because of changes to grant funding provided by the federal government.
The city has not yet received its Community Development Block Grant from U.S. Housing and Urban Development and is looking for other federal grants to help pay for the position.
'We're hopeful to fill this position next year,' he said.
Sharyn Riley, city auditor, said she looked for ways to creatively cut spending for the upcoming fiscal year. The Auditing Department was approved for $1.46 million, a nearly 1% decrease from this year's spending.
'I think I'm being as frugal as I can be,' Riley said at the hearing.
The School Committee's portion was approved for $131.6 million, a 2.2% increase from the current year. The budget went up by $5 million since fiscal 2025.
Chapter 70A funds, which is the state's money for local schools, went up by $6 million, and the city's contribution is set to increase by $1.3 million.
'City costs went up,' said Ware, the superintendent. 'Transportation gets more expensive, and the needs of our students have increased.'
About 75% of the district is low-income.
He explained a big focus of the upcoming budget was around vacancies, of which there are over 100 open teacher positions.
Ware also said the district was looking at other ways to get funding, including being reimbursed by the state Education Department for special education, especially because COVID relief funding expired last fall.
The Department of Public Works' enterprise fund, which includes combined sewer overflows, pretreatment and utility services, has the second highest slated funding behind the schools, at $25.79 million. The Human Resources Department falls in third place, with $23.6 million on the budget for fiscal 2026, where medical insurance accounts for its biggest cost.
The Chicopee Police and Fire departments' total budgets each increased from fiscal 2025. The Police Department's spending increased by 22.2%, from $15.2 million to $18.6 million, because of the cost of technology and to pay for increases in collective bargaining contracts. The Fire Department increased by about 1%, going from $14.5 million to $14.6 million.
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