Mayor submits $236.1 million FY2026 municipal budget proposal to Malden City Council

Another challenging year for city finances, but budget is balanced with no projected job cuts

By Steve Freker

Malden Mayor Gary Christenson has submitted a balanced budget proposal of $236,117,62 to the Malden City Council for its review for fiscal year 2026 (FY2026). FY2026 covers municipal expenditures from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026. At its last full meeting, the City Council voted unanimously to receive the Mayor’s budget proposal and refer it to the Council’s Finance Committee for complete review. The $236.1 million budget proposal represents an increase of about 8.3%, or about $12 million, over last year’s FY25 figure of $224 million.

Mayor Christenson, in his transmittal letter to the City Council, noted several key points in relation to the FY2026 budget proposal, including that the Malden Public Schools are fully funded as to Net School Spending; the end of the added American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds after this year’s budget; and that there are no projected job cuts on the city or school side of this year’s budget. Notably, there are also no new positions proposed nor funded in the Mayor’s FY2026 spending plan.

Though the budget is indeed balanced and funded with all of the city’s available resources, the Mayor did make it clear — as he has done with several of the most recent years’ budgets — that the city’s available and projectable revenue sources do not match up with municipal expenditures. The Mayor has identified this situation as “a structural deficit” within the municipal budget.

This has been a point of contention both by the Mayor and his strategic planning team and the members of the City Council for several years now. There has been much discussion and explanations of the disparities between the Chapter 70 funding formula for schools, as it pertains to Malden as opposed to similar school districts nearby.

Also, according to the Mayor, Malden has a sizable discrepancy with regard to the revenues it takes in for property taxes as opposed to that received by other similar, nearby communities. As Malden is a “Gateway Community” along with a number of others in the region, the Mayor noted that Malden receives the second lowest tax revenue per dollar of assessed property value than any of the 26 other Gateway designees.

“The coverage of the challenges we face would not be complete without covering a couple of important components, despite whatever discomfort comes with recognizing them,” the Mayor wrote. “First, numbers don’t lie. Malden generates fewer tax dollars per dollar of assessed value than all but two gateway cities. Put another way, our blended tax rate is lower than the norm, the average, and just about every other gateway city.”

Specifically, the Mayor pointed out that four Gateway Cities — Everett, Fall River, Taunton and New Bedford — all have lower total combined assessed property value than Malden, but generate $39 million more in tax revenue than Malden. “This sits at the very foundation of our challenges,” the Mayor stated. “The realities of [Proposition 2 ½] have ensured that absent overrides, communities are set to stay in a tight band from where they started.”

Proposition 2 ½ is a Massachusetts law enacted in 1980 that strictly limits the amount of property tax revenue a municipality can raise through real and personal property taxes. Specifically, the overall property tax levy can rise only 2 1/2% overall per year in Massachusetts.

Education spending continues to be the biggest portion of the budget — nearly 45% of the total figure — and for the first time surpassing the $100 million level this year; projected at $102.17 million in the Mayor’s proposal.

With last year’s Malden Public Schools budget at just over $96 million, this year’s proposed expenditure for education represents a 6% increase, or $5.8 million.

Overall, the complete municipal budget proposal represents a balanced budget, but — essentially — a level-funded fiscal year. Mayor Christenson noted this point in his transmittal letter to the City Council that accompanied his budget proposal. “[All budget proposal] increases simply fund ongoing government operations at their current service level,” the Mayor stated. “There are no new initiatives, no staff additions, and school spending is at the minimum level required by law.”

The Mayor, on a positive note, did note that the city’s school funding from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts through the Student Opportunity Act (SOA) and in turn, the Chapter 70 funding, has increased about $5.7 million overall for FY26. That $5.7 million increase from the state funding represents nearly to the dollar the amount that is proposed for the increase in the Malden Public Schools budget for FY2026. Mayor Christenson told the Councillors in his budget transmittal letter that the increase in Chapter 70 funding, while positive, also included an increase in the amount the city must contribute to education spending under the Student Opportunity Act.

“On the education front, our schools continue to see benefits from the Student Opportunity Act (SOA), which has increased both Chapter 70 Aid and the amount we as a City are required to contribute,” the Mayor stated, noting “lack of equity in the school funding formulas …is certainly a significant factor in the structural deficit.”

“Make no mistake about it, SOA has provided valuable additional funding to our schools, while putting additional pressure on an already out-of-balance local contribution requirement,” the Mayor added.

Additional burdens on the already challenged budget this year include:

— A 17% increase in premiums for active insurance plans for municipal employees for FY2026, with the Mayor stating, “Our team is looking at every available option to contain these costs while providing our employees with quality health care.”

— A $926,000 additional debt service payment toward the construction of the new Northeast Metropolitan Vocational High School facility, now underway, where 197 Malden resident students attend. This and the FY2026 overall assessment of $2.65 million are included in the $102.17 million education line item.

Mayor Christenson also noted that this FY2026 budget exhausts the last of the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds ($3.2 million) while the city must use $5.2 million from its free cash (“rainy day fund”) to balance the budget. “Looking forward to what this means as a starting point for next year would tell anyone that this is simply not sustainable,” Mayor Christenson stated.

As for what lies ahead, Mayor Christenson said he and his strategic planning team are poised to join with the City Council in coming up with ideas to address the structural deficit within the municipal budget. “Immediately upon the conclusion of this budget, it’s my intent to work with the City Council to establish a working group to look holistically at the structural deficit to chart a course for the future,” Mayor Christenson stated.

“Everything will need to be on the table. That we are not alone in this predicament is of little consolation,” the Mayor added. “We must identify a solution that works for us as a community, and do so taking into account the great knowledge of this community that we possess.”

The City Council referred the budget proposal to its Finance Committee for review, which will now go over most departments’ budgets with department heads in individual committee meetings. The Council may not add funds to the budget proposal in its voting, but is allowed to cut from the budget as it deems necessary. A Council vote must be taken on the budget by June 30 or before that date, so as to ensure operations are funded and begin for FY2026 on July 1, 2025.

Malden FY2026 City Budget: Priorities and Issues

Here are some of the guides used by the City of Malden Budget Team in shaping this year’s municipal budget:

—Starting the Transition Away from Federal Dollars

• American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds have allowed for funding some new initiatives, positions and priorities on the City of Malden and Public Schools side.
• December of 2024 was the cutoff for encumbering funds; must be actually spent by the end of 2026.
• The last $3.2 million of Malden’s initial allotment of $45.7 million in 2021 was included and will be spent in this year’s FY2026 budget.
• Need to start the thoughtful transition to avoid a jarring change.

—Continued Focus on Lead Line Replacements

• Maximize the potential of the American Rescue Plan Act in advancing the lead line replacement initiative.
• Expansion of lead line replacement to the private side.
• Prudent utilization of Massachusetts Water Resource Authority programs with forgiveness provisions for the same.

—Continuing Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

• The budget fully funds the previously added position of a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Coordinator and the continuation of funding added last year for associated support.
• $350,000 committed by the Mayor to improve language access is not reflected in the budget, as that is funded by the ARPA funds .
• Plan for School Funding Changes and NE Voke.

—Significant local dollars will be required to meet the required local contribution, which is formula driven and not optional in order to meet net school spending requirements.

• Northeast Voke school building costs will add $1.3 million in new expenses to the City budget in FY2026 and beyond.

Drive Utilization and Revenue for Parking Garages

• Post-COVID return to the office has been slow and sporadic resulting in light usage of garages and declining revenue.
• Validation programs to support business haven’t driven revenue; we will transition to more revenue generating approaches by the end of 2023.

• Must find users for capacity, as garages are resource intensive and in constant need of capital repairs.