Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and Chief Administrative and Financial Officer (CAFO) Cathy Buono concluded the Mayor’s Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) budget hearings on Tuesday afternoon, with the final group of departments presenting their FY27 budget requests and responding to questions from Mayor Sarno, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and city councilors. Chief of Staff Bill Baker, Deputy CAFO Lindsay Hackett, and Budget Director Chris Fraser were also in attendance, along with City Councilors Brian Santaniello, Victor Davila, and Justin Hurst.
Mayor Sarno states, “I am extremely proud of our entire city team’s commitment to serving our Springfield and providing services in an efficient, effective, strategic and compassionate way – no matter the challenge before us. Thank you CAFO Cathy Buono and team and to the department heads for their presentations this week. Thanks to the City Councilors and media too who attended. We have been able to hear some great updates and highlights from our city departments along with their budget requests and had productive discussions this week.”
“I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all of our Cabinet & Department Heads for their efforts in working to craft budgets that maintain services for our constituents, while also managing budget growth where we can,” continued Mayor Sarno. “I appreciate each department for coming in very lean, presenting minuscule increases other than those fixed costs. My Administration will continue to provide sound and prudent fiscal leadership for an efficient, effective, strategic and compassionate way to assure that city services continue to be provided for our residents and business community.”
CAFO Cathy Buono stated, “For the last two fiscal years we have asked all departments to trim their budgets without impacting staff or services, so they have been doing more with less, and we continue to be very strategic and lean as we prepare for uncertainty and cuts from above. I want to thank my dedicated finance team along with each department head for all of their hard work in crafting a quality budget. With continued support from the Mayor, we work hard to produce a balanced budget, without the use of stabilization reserves, that maintains a quality level of services for our residents and businesses.”
“I’d also like to thank the Focus Springfield team especially my friend and former soccer teammate ‘the halfback’ Steve Cary and Josué Vazquez for facilitating our Zoom aspects. We deeply appreciate your assistance in making the budget hearings accessible,” said Mayor Sarno.
Budget hearings, which took place at City Hall in the Mayor’s Conference Room (Room 205), began on Wednesday, March 18, 2026 and concluded today. The hearings, which are open to the public to attend, were also available to be watched live, remotely online thanks to Focus Springfield Community. Recordings of the hearings will also be available to watch via Focus Springfield: https://focusspringfield.com/fy27-budget-hearings/
