#QuincyMayorThomasKoch Presents #2026Budget: Nothing To See Here

Image via Paramount Pictures

— Quincy Massachusetts News by Quincy Quarry News – News, Opinion and Commentary.

“It’s really not that big of an increase”
A file photo

Literally pretty much nothing to see.

At this past Monday evening City Council meeting Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch made a presentation on what city tax money is spent on along with but glints of hints of how much he is planning to spend in Fiscal Year 2026.

How but glints?  Early on during his PowerPointing in his presentation, Mayor Koch quickly posted a not aligned figure of $455,835,577 for how much he plans to spend in FY 2026.

“It’s really not all that much money”
Image via the Boston Globe

He then moved on to putting those in the room to either sleep or check their message with a dry recap of some of the things done with taxpayers’ money in Quincy.

The proposed $455,835,577 FY 2026 budget, up from $419,806,675 budgeted for current FY 2025 budget ending on June 30, posed a 8.6% increase for the coming new fiscal year budget commencing on the fast approaching First of July.

The driver to the proposed budget is how city debt service is soaring from $65,938,452 to $89,072,350, a 35% increase in debt service.

At the same time, Quincy Quarry News had projected upwards of a 10% spending increase for the coming year.

Quincy Quarry News follows the money
Image via oxycom.com

Upon a closer review of Mayor Koch’s proposed FY 2026 budget, the Quarry’s upwards of 10% projection is the better figure.

Technically, the Quarry’s projection is the better number as it is based on including a well-reasoned baseline amount to cover rank and file employee raises come FY 2026 as union contracts expire at the end of FY 2025 at the end of next month or the start of the school year for teachers.  

However, the mayor has yet to negotiate any new union contracts and so is kicking the eventual raises down the road to be paid differently as well as later with taxpayers likely stuck with the bill next year.

Teachers picketing two years ago to press for a new union contract
A Quincy Quarry News exclusive file photo image

In other works, the mayor is basically kicking the can down the road meets kiting checks while at the same time delaying raises to city workers for a likely upwards of a year.and so adding to their pain as their current contract was negotiated before inflation soared for a time in recent years and so undercut the purchasing power of their raises per their soon expiring contracts.

The crack Quincy Quarry News quants ran the numbers and so project a $6.1 million higher budget given but a 2% raises for rank and file employees as opposed to the fat raises approved the mayor, key among the mayor’s senior hack hires, and City Councillors running as much as 45 times greater rates of raises, if new union contracts were in place.

Enough already
A file photo

In turn, adding $6.1 million to the FY 2026 budget to fund 2% raises would work out to a just over 10% increase in city spending in total from what was projected to be spend in the soon to be ending FY 2025 budget year.

At the same time, a 3% raise in first year of new contracts would result in a de facto 10.8% budget spending increase for FY 2026.

A spending increase four time the rate of inflation by the way.

In short as well as yet again, koch and mirrors …

QQ disclaimer