Medford Unanimously Passes $201M FY 2023 Budget

MEDFORD, MA — The City of Medford unanimously passed a $201 million Fiscal Year 2023 budget hours before the state-mandated budget deadline of June 30, reported Wicked Local.

Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn only came back to negotiate at 12:45 a.m. on June 29 after the City Council voted to cut $86,100 from the line item for legal services from consultant KP Law and $202,887 from the line item that funds her salary and staff, an act Wicked Local referred to as “political blackmail.”

Those two cuts were reinstated, but upon her return, the Councilors demanded that she reinstate the $300,000 cut from the school budget. In addition, the city added $90,000 to fund weekend staffing for the new library, $85,000 for an assistant city solicitor, and $15,000 for the new elections commission. An addendum also adds $60,000 to the library budget and $50,000 for technical and legal services.

The funds will be taken from the facilities maintenance and repair budget and reimbursed later through an appropriation of reserved funds, reported Wicked Local.

In addition, an extra $300,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding will be used to fund teacher’s salaries.

According to Wicked Local, Lungo-Koehn blamed the budget delay on the lack of a Chief Financial Officer and how long it took to find a replacement staffer.

The full city budget will be available here in the coming weeks.