Arlington Finance Committee Approves Police and Fire Collective Bargaining Funds for FY27

ARLINGTON -- March 30, 2026, Arlington Finance Committee approves collective bargaining funds for police and fire, amends stabilization transfer. The committee voted March 30 to approve a warrant article covering retroactive pay for rank, patrol, and fire unions, with the motion language using $1,653,000 drawn from the existing collective bargaining salary reserve rather than the full $3.1 million settlement total; Deputy Town Finance Director Julie Wayman said an additional roughly $1.5 million in fiscal year 2026 obligations will require a separate Finance Committee reserve fund transfer later this spring, with the reserve fund holding a balance of $2,089,593. The fiscal year 2027 salary increment of $1,876,842 for the three bargaining units is embedded in the manager's budget. The committee also reconsidered and amended Article 88, voting to appropriate $5,820,391 into the override stabilization fund for FY27, projecting an ending balance of $12,027,466, after the town's Proposition 2.5 override passed at a recent election adding roughly $14.8 million to the levy. The meeting closed with a lengthy discussion in which multiple members argued that salary costs growing at roughly 4 percent annually against a 2.5 percent levy cap make future overrides structurally inevitable, with several calling for earlier department head engagement, key performance indicator benchmarking, and a formal committee policy on long-term vacant positions.