Somerville — the money trail

$380,076,063

Somerville’s FY2026 approved General Fund. Water, sewer, and the pool and field are separate enterprise funds, excluded here. The nine non-school function lines are exact from the budget book and sum to $267.4M; schools is shown as the approved total minus those, matching the city’s ~$112M school figure. The Council’s voted appropriation order was $362.9M (it leaves out state assessments and reserves). Click any number to open the source. The pieces add up to the General Fund (FY2026 approved) total exactly.

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General Fund (approved) $380,076,063 · Council appropriation order $362,915,509 · 81,045 residents (2020)

Where the money goes — FY2026, General Fund (FY2026 approved)

Somerville Public Schools $112,694,504 · 29.7%

Schools — shown as the approved total minus the exact non-school functions; the city reports schools on a separate accounting system.

source: City of Somerville FY2026 Budget Book, Expenditure Table ↗

Employee benefits, pensions & reserves $69,439,254 · 18.3%

Health and life insurance, pensions, salary contingency, and pay-go capital.

source: City of Somerville FY2026 Budget Book, Expenditure Table ↗

Public Safety $54,988,684 · 14.5%

Fire, Police, parking, E-911, and emergency management.

source: City of Somerville FY2026 Budget Book, Expenditure Table ↗

General Government $49,273,950 · 13%

City administration and offices.

source: City of Somerville FY2026 Budget Book, Expenditure Table ↗

Public Works $43,308,920 · 11.4%

Streets, trash, and city facilities.

source: City of Somerville FY2026 Budget Book, Expenditure Table ↗

Debt Service $22,607,530 · 5.9%

Principal and interest — including Somerville High School construction.

source: City of Somerville FY2026 Budget Book, Expenditure Table ↗

State & county assessments $15,210,557 · 4%

Charges the state levies back on the city.

source: City of Somerville FY2026 Budget Book, Expenditure Table ↗

Culture & Recreation $6,816,620 · 1.8%

Libraries, parks, and recreation.

source: City of Somerville FY2026 Budget Book, Expenditure Table ↗

Health & Human Services $4,156,794 · 1.1%

Council on Aging, veterans, and SomerPromise.

source: City of Somerville FY2026 Budget Book, Expenditure Table ↗

Unassigned $1,579,250 · 0.4%

Budgeted but not yet allocated to a function.

source: City of Somerville FY2026 Budget Book, Expenditure Table ↗

Worth knowing

Property taxes carry about 74% of the budget — $280.7M of revenue, versus 15% from state aid.
Schools got the biggest FY2026 boost — about $8M more — and have grown 33%+ over four budgets.
Somerville holds a AAA bond rating, and FY2026 funds the new Assembly Square fire station.

Where these numbers come from

Every figure is from the City of Somerville FY2026 Budget Book (Expenditure Table), adopted 2025-06-26. Somerville also runs an interactive open-budget portal. This is Somerville's own budget — set by Somerville City Council, not by the county (which no longer governs).