Somerville Mayor Jake Wilson has unveiled his proposed budget for the 2027 fiscal year, a $394 million spending plan that aims to address the city’s estimated $5.4m financial shortfall while investing in core services, public schools, affordable housing and safer streets.
The plan features the largest dollar investment increase in Somerville public schools in the district’s history, according to a June 4 press release from the Mayor’s office. The $122.5 million total investment will help fund, among other proposals, five new special education teachers and free MBTA passes for all Somerville students in grades seven through 12, year-round.
The announcement drew attention to Somerville’s heavy financial burden — driven, it said, by “rising fixed costs, broader economic pressures, and slowing new growth revenue” — but also touted several initiatives it claimed have narrowed the deficit. These included applying stabilizing funds to reduce long-term debt obligations, and scaling back non-personnel operating budgets by five percent citywide.
“Traumatic” layoffs acknowledged
But the layoffs on May 22 were perhaps the Mayor’s highest-profile cost-cutting measure. In a press conference to mark the budget announcement, Wilson described the firings, which saw 13 city staffers across multiple departments let go, as “traumatic.”
“People have had to say goodbye to friends, colleagues, people who they really respect,” Wilson said. “And as the leader of the organization, that hits me, too.” The fired staffers have been placed on paid administrative leave until June 30 “to cushion the blow,” he added. “The idea that we would just be letting people know that news and telling them, ‘Oh, today’s your final day being paid,’ just seemed inhumane.”
Wilson also revealed that a planned tax hike next year in support of the new school building at 115 Sycamore Street — a debt exclusion vote is scheduled for November 2027 — meant he was unwilling to impose an additional levy on constituents to help close the fiscal gap. (Several neighboring municipalities, notably Arlington, have recently increased taxes to raise revenue.)
That debt exclusion “has to pass,” Wilson said. “There’s no Plan B on that one. We couldn’t risk voter fatigue.”
Wilson emphasized that he was committed to helping his former staffers find new employment. “I personally said I will help in any way I can through my networks,” he said. “If there’s a job someone’s applying for, I will call and put in a good word personally. It’s a really tough situation.”
The layoffs have given fresh impetus to city staffers’ ongoing unionizing efforts. According to the new Somerville Workers United (SWU) union, which the Somerville City Council voted to formally recognize at its May 28 council meeting, most of the laid off workers had already signed union cards. Several current and former city staffers have criticized the Mayor’s handling of the organizing efforts — in particular because he ran as a pro-labor candidate.
Wilson hopes an agreement will be reached, however. “I fully support workers’ rights to unionize, and I’m looking forward to working with the group and the organizers helping them at AFSCME,” the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, he said.
“We were contacted for the first time by the organizing team on May 12, and we were able to add them to a meeting we had scheduled with AFSCME folks on the 29th,” Wilson added. “We’re looking forward to continuing to work with them on getting to an outcome that everyone can be very happy with.”
The Mayor didn’t provide further details about the negotiations, saying only: “There’s an opportunity here for really constructive dialogue.”
The AFSCME did not respond to a request for comment.
Though the layoffs eliminated 16 open positions at city hall — in addition to the 13 existing staffers — the new cabinet-level arts council leadership role Wilson promised in February isn’t among them. In fact, it went live the evening of June 4.
The position had taken longer than anticipated to finalize, Wilson explained, because “we promised input from the Arts Council staff and from the arts council board,” he said.
“We’re really eager to get that position filled so we can fulfill that pledge of really driving the arts forward here in Somerville,” Wilson said.
The proposed budget for the 2027 fiscal year will now move to the City Council for deliberation and public review. The public hearing will be held during the Finance Committee’s virtual meeting via Zoom on Wednesday, June 10, at 6 p.m; the Mayor’s office encouraged residents to share feedback.
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