Medford budget hearings get underway, deficit at $1 million

There’s still a lot of number crunching left to go, but during its first preliminary budget meeting Tuesday night, city councilors reviewed some early numbers provided by the Finance/Procurement Department and Council on Aging.  

Both of those departments have proposed modest increases in their budgets for fiscal 2026, Finance with 3% and COA with 1%.

Finance Director Bob Dickinson, COA Director Pamela Kelly, and Nina Nazarian, the mayor’s chief of staff, were on hand to answer questions.

Nazarian said departments are still reviewing budgets but looking at things from a very high level, the city will need to close a $1 million gap, with the overall budget being $200+ million.

She also mentioned Medford, like many other communities and organizations, are closely monitoring what is happening with grants and funding that would normally come from the state and federal governments.  

Council President Isaac ‘Zac’ Bears clarified there are certain fixed costs that increase the budget every year, including contractual obligations to employees, health insurance, pension liability, and the DPW trash contract.

New financial software?

Councilor Justin Tseng brought up the issue of the city’s old financial software and the need for a new system to increase efficiency. He asked if there is a timeline for replacing the software.

“To really change to a different software solution is going to have to go in stages over many years,” Dickinson said, “and it’s going to cost a lot of money, we’re talking north of $1 million.”

Not only would the new software have to connect with other programs the city uses, but there would also need to be a lot of training for employees.

“It’s a big project that would take a lot of resources,” he said.

Dickinson will prepare a summary of what the project would entail and present it to the City Council in September.

Council on Aging

“Our budget is really simple, there’s not too much included in that for the Council on Aging,” said Kelly.

Councilor Emily Lazzaro referring to the minimal 1% increase proposed in the budget, said, “This is pretty much flat-funded as far as I’m concerned. I wish we had more that we could give you and improve your offerings.”

However, she told Kelly the COA overachieves with the resources it does have.

Medford has 12,766 seniors age 60 and older, based on the federal 2020 census, Kelly said, and the state provides $15 per senior. Those funds, she said, go toward many things that are not in the municipal budget. A few examples are exercise classes, events, and the COA van driver.

Upcoming preliminary budget meetings are scheduled for:

Tuesday, May 6, at 6 p.m.

Tuesday, May 20, at 6 p.m.

Wednesday, May 21, at 6 p.m.