The week ahead: Council to finalize FY2027 budget before summer break

Update (June 26): This article has been edited to include a License Commission meeting and to reflect that this week’s special School Committee meeting took place on Tuesday instead of Wednesday.

As June comes to a close, the City Council is finishing off its hectic annual scheduling dance to pass its budget before the new fiscal year and complete its work before its summer break.

The council will take a vote on budgetary matters — including a last-minute addition to Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy’s proposed School Department budget — at its final scheduled June meeting Monday. Before the meeting convenes, the Finance Committee is scheduled to hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. to go over possible cuts to the budget prior to sending it to the full council for approval.

After the council meets at 7:30 p.m., it will split into subcommittees to discuss any new items. At the end of the night, it will reconvene as a full council to vote on any final unresolved matters.

Below is a chronological rundown of other city meetings scheduled this week, June 22 through 27.

City Council and committee meetings

Before the budget discussion, the City Council has a long list of business to get to Monday night. 

It will review a $1,592,866 building permit fee reimbursement to Boston Dynamics and the Hyundai Motor Group, proposed by McCarthy to get the companies to stay in Waltham. It will consider a total of $285,513.32 in funding requests for improvements and abatements to the Fernald State School property’s Howe building, which will house a new public indoor pool, and new athletic area; discuss a $10,000 request to replace windows at City Hall; and consider accepting a $105,000 state grant for improvements to the Robert Treat Payne Estate.

It will revisit locations for a new bike-sharing program in Waltham and vote on business discussed in its committees last week, including finalizing plans for three west Waltham Zoning districts. It will discuss funding transfers around the city, decide on this year’s recipient of the Kevin M. Ritcey Public Service Award, consider accepting a donation of stuffed animals for Waltham First Responders to distribute, and listen to a resolution from McDevitt Middle School’s eighth grade civics class.

The City Council and its committees will meet on Monday, starting at 7:30 p.m.

Board of Registrars of Voters

The Board of Registrars of Voters, overseen by the City Clerk’s office, is tasked with maintaining an up-to-date voter registry, training workers and maintaining voting machines in advance of election day, and maintaining election integrity in the City of Waltham.

The board will meet this week at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, in the City Hall’s Hoover Committee Room, to discuss early voting and appoint election workers for the 2026 state and senate elections.

Zoning Board of Appeals

The ZBA is a five-person board charged with reviewing new and existing buildings that might violate the city’s zoning code. 

The board has the power to grant project-specific variances to the code, overrule judgments made by the building inspector and grant specific types of special permits.

This week it will hear a case from tiny home company Brady-Built Inc. for a house at 24 Rando Lane.

The board will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the Arthur Clark Government Center.

School Committee

The Waltham School Committee, an elected six-member committee chaired by the mayor, makes policy and oversight decisions for the Waltham Public Schools.

The committee this week will hold a special meeting to further discuss the FY2027 School Department budget, discuss measures of success set by Superintendent Marisa Mendonsa and approve a contract for the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.

The committee will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in the James J. Cannon Lecture Hall at 617 Lexington St.

License Commission

The License Commission grants and reviews permits for serving food and alcohol for entertainment and for some types of gaming machines across the city.

This week, it will consider granting single-day alcohol permits for an event at Bentley and a food truck catering for corporate events, as well as four outdoor dining permits. It will also discuss an incident from the police blotter and an alcohol license for the proposed Sonni’s Restaurant.

It will meet on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the public meeting room of the Clark Government Center at 119 School St.