FRAMINGHAM - The full 11-member Framingham City Council began its review of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget for the city during their meeting at the Memorial Building on Tuesday, May 21.

The recommended FY25 budget currently stands at $358,840,477, which represents a nearly $15 million increase from the FY24 budget. A 2.5% tax levy increase, which is projected to produce an additional $5.3 million in revenue compared to last year, is included in the budget pitch.

One change to the budget was made during the City Council Finance Subcommittee’s meeting on May 14, as the group approved a removal of $200,000 from the city’s reserve fund by a 3-2 vote. At-Large City Councilor and Chair of the Finance Subcommittee George King explained to the full City Council on Tuesday that the decision was based off of previous spending.

“The reason we did that was that: it’s a $400,000 reserve fund,” King said at the Memorial Building.

“It’s a fund that (the City Council controls). We really haven’t utilized it in recent years, and if money was needed in any larger amounts, there are other places we can get money. It’s really just more of a symbolic cut.”

The FY25 budget was not finalized by the City Council, as the group voted to pass it along to a second reading. In the meantime, District 4 City Councilor Michael Cannon urged his colleagues and Mayor Charlie Sisitsky’s administration to consider financial factors like inflation and state aid while looking at the budget again.

“I am truly hopeful that as we go forward to the second reading,” Cannon continued, “we can just have another look and see if there are some ways that maybe some of the things that we thought were mission critical for the coming fiscal year, perhaps, can wait a little bit longer, be done a little bit differently, and we don’t set a precedent by passing along the largest spending increase in the history of the City of Framingham.”