EDITORIAL: This is NOT a drill: Malden’s $$$ woes are real

City officials paint grim picture in plea for Prop. 2 1/2 Override

  When Massachusetts voters passed Proposition 2 1/2, placing a 2 1/2 percent limit on the amount a community could raise its property tax levy amount each calendar year, it was designed to make the taxes predictable on an annual basis. When it went into effect in 1982, there was a backlash of layoffs and other budget cuts not seen before in Malden and many communities across Massachusetts. At last week’s Malden City Council meeting, Mayor Gary Christenson made history when he formally requested the support of the City Council in placing a Proposition 2 1/2 Override question on the ballot in a future Special Election.

The Mayor and members of his administrative team presented a case for an override request of $5.4 million from Malden taxpayers, being sought to fund a structural deficit estimated at $8.4 million in the present FY26 municipal budget. With another $3 million forecast to be saved by the City of Malden enrolling in a new and different group health care plan, a successful tax override of $5.4 million would ensure the structural budget gap would be filled, just to maintain city services until the end of this fiscal year, which concludes on June 30, 2026.

At Tuesday night’s Malden City Council Finance Committee meeting, the stark news presented at the jam-packed Council Chamber last week turned even more grim. The message from city officials and confirmed by City Councillors was clear: This is not a drill. Malden is in deep financial trouble, its money woes are indeed very real.

Malden’s chief financial officer, City Controller Chuck Ranaghan, told City Councillors on Tuesday night that even with the $8.4 million — if it is raised from health care savings and an override — there would still have to be cuts made. These cuts in both personnel and other budget line items would be necessary, he said, in this year’s FY26 budget, with more cuts expected when the next city budget, FY27 (covering July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027) is formulated. City services would be diminished in many departments, he said, and he and all of the City Councillors who spoke at Tuesday’s two-hour-plus committee meeting agreed that discussions and follow-up actions forthcoming in the near future “will be painful.”

There is no doubt, when talking about career city employees potentially losing their jobs or jeopardizing the quality and quantity of city services, that prophecy is correct.