Chelsea’s free cash ledger for fiscal 2026 ends with a line reading “Balance the Budget,” $2,500,000, and a closing balance of $5,280,494.60. The same sheet opens the year at $32,380,414.00. It was attached to a March 18, 2026 letter from City Manager Fidel Maltez to the council, under the subject line “Free Cash Update to Council.” No other public document itemises the reserves this closely.
What free cash is
City budget material defines it plainly: “Free cash represents the City’s available reserves that can be appropriated for budget stabilization, one-time expenses, or other financial needs.” Chelsea cannot spend it until the state signs off. Maltez told councillors in January that the city had “$32.4 Million in Free Cash for Fiscal Year 2025, as certified by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue in November 2025,” and the city’s revenue notes add that “Free Cash is certified by the State annually and the amounts and availability of this funding source are unknown.” Where it comes from, per the March letter: “revenues that come above projection and expenses that come below budget.”
The FY2024 ledger, itemised
Every year’s sheet lists each council vote against the running balance. The last nineteen votes on the fiscal 2024 sheet, proposed between April 29 and June 3, 2024, total $1,773,249.95 and close that year at $8,962,068.05.
| Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|
| HEDC Downtown Initiative fund 50505 for small business | $200,000.00 |
| City Manager Professional Services for MUNIS upgrade | $100,000.00 |
| FY25 Budget Free Cash | $706,908.00 |
| Police Contract Services, “Year 3 out of 5 Body Worn Camera Contract” | $171,354.00 |
| E911 Overtime | $175,680.00 |
| Fire Overtime | $115,331.00 |
| Fire Regular Salary | $98,178.00 |
| MIS Computer Equipment, HVAC cooled rack and Meraki access point | $50,600.00 |
| DPW Snow Salt, final snow and ice operations | $40,273.00 |
| DPW Buildings and Grounds Building Maintenance | $30,000.00 |
| Employee Benefit Medicare | $29,952.00 |
| DPW Snow Overtime | $19,889.00 |
| Elder Affairs Regular Salary | $10,530.00 |
| Fire Lighting | $7,000.00 |
| Fire Gasoline | $5,000.00 |
| City Manager Community Events | $5,000.00 |
| City Clerk Data Processing Services | $3,270.00 |
| Personnel Life Insurance, prior year invoices FY22 and FY23 | $2,549.95 |
| Parking Regular Salary | $1,735.00 |
Body worn cameras sit in that list as a contract-services line paid from reserves rather than from the police operating budget. The sheet records year three of a five-year contract at $171,354.00 and does not state what the other four years cost.
What the FY26 sheet projected
Ten million dollars of the fiscal 2026 balance never went to operations. Council voted $7,000,000 into the General Stabilization Fund and $3,000,000 into the School Capital Stabilization Fund on January 28, 2026, moving reserves between accounts. Pending items took the balance to $11,944,506.45: $8,197,000 for the FY27 capital improvement plan loan order, $854,000 for a school building renovation, $745,000 for the Marginal Street capital fund.
Below those, six lines marked “Projections” walk the balance down to $5,280,494.60: Fire Department overtime $400,000.00, snow deficit $1,500,000.00, 911 deficit $500,000.00, FEMA deficit $1,264,011.85, year-end supplements $500,000.00, and “Balance the Budget” $2,500,000.00.
What actually happened
Two of those estimates can be checked against later votes. On May 4, 2026 the council approved $406,000.00 for fire overtime, within $6,000 of the March estimate, on a roll call of 8 to 0 with Councillors Recupero, T. Garcia and Brown absent. Snow came in lower than penciled: $787,296.00 for snow removal contract services and $162,358.00 for salt in the same order, plus $29,217.00 of snow removal overtime from free cash in a later vote, for $978,871.00 against a $1,500,000 projection. A further $129,126.00 of snow overtime came from the salary reserve rather than free cash.
The budget draw ran the other way. On June 8, 2026, at the meeting that also took up inclusionary housing, the council voted 11 to 0 that general fund appropriations be “financed in part by Certified Free Cash of the City of Chelsea as follows: Free Cash in the amount of $4,495,000,” which is $1,995,000 more than the March sheet’s “Balance the Budget” line.
Five years of starting balances
Each year sheet carries an opening balance: $14,886,858.00 for FY2022, $17,095,263.00 for FY2023, $20,227,777.00 for FY2024, $33,834,080.00 for FY2025 and $32,380,414.00 for FY2026. Maltez rounded the same run in his March letter, wrote that free cash “has steadily grown since the pandemic,” set out the year’s costs, and concluded: “we expect Free Cash to close at $5 million at the end of this fiscal year. This is the lowest it has been in three years.” Chelsea has measured its own milestones in firsts since receivership, so the size of the reserve carries weight.
Still unknown
No document in the council record resolves the FEMA line. Maltez notified the council on January 7, 2026 that a second appeal had been submitted on the COVID food distribution case; packets through September 2026 contain no decision, so whether the $1,264,011.85 was charged to free cash remains open in the public file. Nor do the packets show a certified FY2026 closing figure. Whether the “911 Deficit” line corresponds to the Emergency Management department, which drew $135,000.00 in overtime from free cash in May and $45,000.00 from the salary reserve in June, is not stated on the sheet. Documents to [email protected].