Proposed Cuts

Cuts
2026-28
Bringing Down Costs
If the Override Fails – The Town
If the Override Fails – The Schools

For Arlington to keep offering its current level of service, we have to pass an override because the town is facing a deficit. The town and schools have made cuts to their budgets to bring down the deficit, but it isn’t enough. 

A failed override would force $2.7M in additional cuts to balance the budget starting July 1, 2026 and $17.8M in cuts the next year. We’ve broken down the planned and proposed cuts to town services and the schools below.

Bringing Down Costs

The town and schools are already making cuts regardless of whether an override passes to bring down the deficit. Cuts include: 

Town
  • Cuts equivalent to 10% of each departmental expense budget (reductions realized through a combination of cuts to expenses and salaries)
  • 10% cut to administrative lines that cross departments (ex. printing, office supplies)
  • 10% cuts to Board, Committee, and Commission budgets, as well as budgets for events and celebrations, as contained within various warrant articles.
  • Extended existing cap on the growth of the town budget through FY29
Schools
  • Approximately $1M in savings from cuts and reassignments to paraprofessionals, elementary specialists, and central office staff from FY2026 to FY2027
  • Imposed a lower three-year cap on the growth of the school budget starting in FY2027, which will save over $1.75M

If the Override Fails – The Town

The Town Manager gave these proposed cuts to the Select Board at the meeting on February 11.  All town Departments will be impacted. The town will focus on keeping the most basic, essential functions starting in FY27 (which begins July 1, 2026) and will have to cut back on even those essential functions in FY28. The likely cuts include the following:

Fire Department
2026-2027
  • Hiring freeze on new firefighters
  • Discontinue community service activities – Touch-A-Truck, Open Houses, SAFE (Student Awareness of Fire Education) programs in schools
2027-2028
  • Due to further staffing reductions, there will be rotating apparatus brown-outs potentially doubling the current average response time
    • Current average response time goes from 3 minutes 42 seconds to 8 minutes
    • Current average response time for farthest locations in a district goes from 5 minutes to 10+ minutes
Libraries
2026-2027
  • Fox Library hours reduced, possible Saturday closing
  • Robbins Library hours reduced, possible Thursday mornings and Sunday closing.
2027-2028
  • Fox Library completely closed
  • Arlington residents lose borrowing privileges from other libraries in the Minuteman Library Network due to loss of state certification (Certification depends on a municipality meeting a formula that indicates support for their libraries operating expenses, which Arlington would not meet.)
  • Robbins Library cuts services, including Teen and Children’s Room offerings
Health & Human Services
2026-2027
  • Thousands of fewer rides offered by the Council on Aging van service. Focus will be on in-town medical rides, reducing or eliminating rides to Arlington EATS, grocery stores, pharmacies, the libraries, Community Center, Town Hall, and other locations. Thanksgiving meals delivery program discontinued.
  • Eliminate rodent control efforts
  • Discontinue support for housing instability and homelessness programs, affecting Arlington’s most vulnerable population
  • Eliminate Youth Health & Safety forums and prevention initiatives
  • Decrease clinical sessions offered by Arlington Youth Counseling Center, (600+ sessions impacting 20 families lost annually)
2027-2028
  • Increased wait time for housing inspections and fewer food safety inspections
  • Reduced capacity to respond to health complaints such as pests, noise, trash and dumpsters 
  • Reduce Council on Aging classes by half; discontinue celebratory luncheons
  • Scale back AYCC groups supporting youth and families as well as some school-based programming, an additional loss of 1200 clinical sessions impacting 35-40 families
  • Reduce sharps collections
  • Reduce capacity to translate critical documents for non-English speaking community members and language access line services
Police Department
2026-2027
  • Hiring freeze on new patrol officers
  • Discontinue community policing activities – car seat inspections; Minuteman Bikeway patrols; homelessness outreach; R.A.D. (Rape Aggression Defense) classes; children’s summer camps; Citizen’s Police Academy; collaboration with the LABB Program; bike rodeos; presence at school athletic and social events; educational programs for seniors and others such as scam awareness, personal safety, and cyberbullying; National Night out; traffic assistance for community events; presence at Rainbow Commission, Human Rights Commission and Housing Authority activities; and reduction in K-9 programming.
  • Delay implementation of body-worn camera program slated for July 1, 2026
  • Discontinue threat assessment program for private businesses, houses of worship, and others which includes specialized training and inspections.
2027-2028
  • Due to further staffing reductions, will need to recall officers assigned to Criminal Investigations Bureau and Traffic & Parking Unit to Patrol Division to provide 9-1-1 emergency response. This will reduce follow-up on incident reports, property crimes, traffic enforcement, and multiple other quality of life/disturbance issues.
  • Discontinue training beyond mandatory training for certifications
Public Works (DPW)
2026-2027
  • Eliminate 10 weeks of yard waste collection from June-October
2027-2028
  • Stop emptying trash in parks on weekends and potentially remove trash cans from parks
  • Reduce maintenance of athletic fields or increase field user fees for youth sports groups
  • Reduce painting of faded roadway lines
  • Reduce safety and accessibility improvements for pedestrians and radar driver speed feedback signs
  • Reduce Recycle offerings at Ryder St. and eliminate other reuse services so the site can be leased
  • Eliminate food scrap diversion programs for public and at schools
  • Discontinue emptying trash cans in business district on weekends
  • Reduce main route/business district street sweeping by half
  • Cut number of new trees planted in half
  • Discontinue treatment for Emerald Ash borer
  • Discontinue aerial imagery for Geographic Information System platform
  • End seasonal summer hiring of high school and college students
Inspectional Services
2027-2028
  • Increased wait time for building permits and inspections due to staffing reductions
Operational Departments

Reductions to Human Resources, Legal, Information Technology and Facilities leading to decreased network and infrastructure maintenance, a weakened cybersecurity posture, deferred building maintenance, decreased level of custodial care and more.

Celebrations and Events

Events would not receive the same support and might be in jeopardy including Town Day/fireworks, Flags on Graves program, Patriots’ Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veterans’ Day, monthly cultural observances organized by Health and Human Services, and the Mass Ave banner projects recognizing month-long causes.

Board and Commission Budgets

Committees and Boards that receive an annual appropriation to support the larger community would not continue at current levels and jeopardize activities supporting tourism, arts and culture, waste reduction, accessibility, historic preservation and more.

Capital Budget

Capital funding is used to meet the Town’s needs for larger items such as vehicles, equipment, buildings and other infrastructure. If the override fails, the following impacts are likely:

2026-2027
  • Network resilience project cancelled
  • Spending on replacing APS student devices significantly reduced
2027-2028
  • Renovation of Veteran’s Memorial Park in Arlington Center cancelled
  • Defer replacement of a Public Works heavy snow plow/sanding vehicle
  • Unable to install EV Charging infrastructure to facilitate electrification of the Town’s fleet, including police vehicles
2027-2031
  • Funding will only be available for projects that address health, safety or habitability.
  • Funding would be decreased or unavailable for other projects such as roads and sidewalks, improving access to Town buildings, electrification of buildings, and replacing needed vehicles, tools and equipment in a timely manner.
How can I learn more about projected cuts to the town budget?

The following links are to the official, detailed documents and recordings that describe in detail the financial implications of the cuts as well as their negative impacts on teaching, learning, and families.

If the Override Fails – The Schools

The School Superintendent presented proposed cuts at the School Committee meeting on January 8. These cuts will:

  • Eliminate at least 120 employees including teachers, librarians, counselors, social workers, administrators, central office staff, administrative assistants, maintenance, and more
  • Increase class sizes
  • Eliminate entire courses and programs of study
  • Prevent the schools from dealing with academic, safety and social issues proactively and move to a crisis response mode
  • Hurt our most vulnerable students
  • Threaten years of work, which created consistent educational quality across the schools and high levels of achievement for Arlington’s students

 (FY2027-2028 for the schools depends on enrollment. The number of AHS teacher cuts are not yet known but will be substantial.)

Elementary Schools
2026-2027
  • 9 teachers eliminated
  • Charge fees (minimum $365/student/year) for school-day instrumental music programs. Need-based waivers will be available.
  • 2.5 Assistant Principals eliminated
2027-2028
  • 22 teachers eliminated 
  • Put multiple grades in one class, expand buffer boundaries between schools, redistrict, or close a school
Middle Schools
2026-2027
  • 4 teachers eliminated
  • Some Middle School electives eliminated
  • Some Administrative Assistants eliminated
2027-2028
  • 10 teachers eliminated
  • 2.5 specialists eliminated (ex. Visual Arts, PE, Tech Ed)
  • Eliminate 6th Grade World Languages
AHS
2026-2027
  • Charge fees (minimum $433/student/sport/year) to play on athletic teams. Need-based waivers will be available.
  • 2.5 Administrators eliminated
  • Some administrative Assistants eliminated
2027-2028
  • Eliminate teacher jobs (exact number based on enrollment)
  • Increase AHS core class sizes
  • Eliminate Latin and Mandarin 
  • Eliminate some APs and electives
  • More heterogeneous classes
All Schools
2026-2027
  • 4.8 Librarian Paraprofessionals eliminated
  • 3 Social Workers and Counselors eliminated
  • 4.5 Multilingual Teachers eliminated
  • 2 Digital Learning Specialists eliminated
2027-2028
  • Combine Digital learning, IT and Library positions
District Wide
2026-2027
  • 10 experts who support teachers with curriculum eliminated
  • 2 Maintenance Staff eliminated
  • 2 IT Technicians eliminated
  • 7.8 Central Office Staff eliminated
2027-2028
  • 2 Elementary core curriculum specialists eliminated
  • Eliminate all Math and literacy coaching
  • Combine multiple different academic departments under one Director
  • 1 Bus Driver eliminated
How can I learn more about projected cuts to the school budget?

The following links are to the official, detailed documents and recordings that describe in detail the financial implications of the cuts as well as their negative impacts on teaching, learning, and families. Some (marked) will download as PDFs.