Woburn mayor presents FY2025 budget; council refers plan to Finance Committee

WOBURN, Mass. — Mayor Michael p Kunkinen presented the City of Woburn’s proposed fiscal year 2025 budget at a special City Council meeting May 20, saying the plan reflects collaborative work across departments and acknowledges the need for increased revenue to sustain services.

In his presentation, the mayor told the council the school department is the primary driver of the increase, citing a reported proposed school-budget increase of $9,986,228.40 (12.66%) and a city-side operating increase of $2,851,262.19 (3.38%), for a combined year-over-year proposed increase the mayor described as $12,830,490.59. He warned that those increases are largely the result of settled teacher collective-bargaining agreements, rising special-education out-of-district tuition and transportation costs, the ending of certain federal COVID-era (ESSER) funds, and an enrollment increase of roughly 350 students since last September. "This proposed budget is . . . the product of countless hours of analysis, discussion, debate, deliberation, and brainstorming," he said.

The mayor outlined several potential offsets included as placeholders in the proposal: savings from a school redistricting plan (initially discussed at higher projected amounts but reduced in planning), a proposed early-retirement incentive program, and state reimbursements tied to recently arrived migrant students. He cautioned these are assumptions and not guaranteed savings: "If these anticipated savings do not materialize ... the school committee, the City Council and the mayor's office would need to determine next steps," he said.

On funding sources, the mayor said the budget is primarily financed by the tax levy and water and sewer fees, supplemented by locally generated receipts, state aid and Chapter 70 school funding. He described the city’s fiscal posture as conservative but noted a less positive outlook for commercial property values and modest expected increases in unrestricted state aid.

Councilors voted by voice to receive the mayor’s communication and the budget documents into the record and to suspend the rules so the mayor could speak. After the presentation the council voted to refer the proposed FY2025 budget and supporting documents to the Committee on Finance for detailed review; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript, and each procedural vote was recorded as a voice vote with the response "Aye." A separate order to transfer $100,000 from the stabilization fund to department salaries was also presented and referred to the Finance Committee.

Councilors asked for clearer information about the direct tax impact on residents. One councilor requested that the mayor’s office and the auditor provide figures showing how much taxpayers will see their taxes increase, and asked that those figures be available for the Finance Committee meeting.

The mayor said he will submit an updated capital budget proposal for consideration at the council’s June 4 meeting. The meeting adjourned at 7:20 p.m.

(Notes: the meeting transcript includes several numeric lines that appear garbled or inconsistent; this article reports the school and city-side increases and flags other totals as unclear where the source text was ambiguous.)