Council delays $1.1 million in budget transfers

Select Board · Meeting of June 24, 2026

Northampton's City Council put off $1.1 million in fiscal 2026 budget transfers, approving prior meeting minutes 9-0 but pushing two funding orders to a July 15 second reading. Councilor Stratton said money shifted from personal-services accounts into road repairs climbed from $170,000 in 2024 to $232,000 in 2025 to $745,000 this year, on top of $400,000 already budgeted for paving, and questioned whether the city was replacing in-house highway staff with contractors such as Allstate Asphalt. Director Nardi said a separate $358,203 transfer would move leftover health-insurance savings into the city's Other Post-Employment Benefits trust, which she said now holds $7,669,922.

Ward 3 resident Dan Brindell told the council a $54,473 capital request for cell phone pouches was approved in March before the School Committee finished its own policy. "I don't understand how this happened," he said.

In the full story:

• Public Comment: Capital Spending on a Cell Phone Policy
• Public Comment: A Letter on Council Conduct
• Approval of May 27 Minutes and an Open-Meeting Question
• First Reading: FY2026 Year-End Transfers and the Road-Improvement Shift (Order 26.092)
• First Reading: FY2026 Transfer to the OPEB Trust (Order 26.093)
• Adjournment
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 1,911 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of June 24, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.