Finance Committee trims, debates and approves departmental budgets; ISD cuts fail while other line reductions pass

After adjourning the Eastern Nazarene College discussion, the Finance Committee moved into FY27 budget presentations and line-item deliberations.

Inspectional Services: Director Rob Conlon presented ISD’s budget (page 56), describing a revenue-generating operation that processes roughly 5,400 permit applications per year (permit revenue about $3.7 million) and performs some 15,000 inspections annually. Councilors questioned clerical staffing, inspector counts and salary differentials. Councilor Yuan moved to reduce line item 512102 (local building inspector) to $400,000; the motion went to roll call and failed.

Recorded roll-call on motion to reduce 512102 (as spoken on the record): Councilor Ashe — No; Councilor Debona — No; Councilor Hughley — No; Councilor Jacobs — Present; Councilor Mahoney — Yes; Councilor McKee — Yes; Councilor Ryan — No; Councilor Yuan — Yes; Chairman Riley — No. The motion failed and the ISD budget was later approved as amended after further discussion and smaller agreed reductions.

IT and contracted services: IT Director Brian Glavin described a 15-staff IT operation that supports approximately 1,000 licensed city and school users, a rotating 24/7 on-call team and several multi-year software and cybersecurity contracts. Councilors approved modest contractual reductions, including a $75,000 reduction in one IT contractual line after the director confirmed he could absorb the cut.

Downtown district and DIF conversation: Downtown Director Mary Cahill reviewed daily operations (fountain and lighting maintenance, trash removal, events) and noted rising contractual costs. Several councilors argued downtown maintenance should be offset by Downtown Improvement Fund (DIF) revenue rather than the general fund; the item was held so administration can present a proposed offset and reconciliation for the committee to consider at a subsequent meeting.

Veterans, Council on Aging and Public Buildings: Veterans Director Christine Cucchini highlighted chapter-115 reimbursements (state reimburses approximately 75¢ on the dollar for eligible local benefits) and advocacy work; the Veterans budget was approved as amended. Council on Aging Director Michelle Hanley described a large service footprint (29 employees, ~26,000 rides year-to-date and thousands of program contacts); the committee approved that budget. Commissioner Hines (Public Buildings) reviewed an extensive maintenance workload across more than 70 major structures, described lead‑in‑water mitigation, asbestos abatements and energy-saving projects, and listed several solar initiatives; that budget was approved as presented.

What passed and what failed: Several targeted line-item reductions were debated and recorded on the floor; the notable failure was the motion to reduce ISD line 512102. Multiple modest contractual and communications reductions (described on the record) and other changes were adopted and were reflected in the amended budget approvals recorded during the hearing.