Fall River City Council Approves $483M Budget After Nearly Two-Month Standoff

After a nearly two-month standoff, the City Council voted 8 -1 to approve the $483 million Fiscal Year 2027 budget on Tuesday.

The passage came after the City Council leadership and Mayor Paul Coogan’s administration agreed on a pair of compromises involving city funded school transportation and a line item that gives the Council access to money to hire outside legal counsel.

The city has been operating on a stop gap 1/12 budget since July 1.

For weeks, Coogan, the School Department and School Committee have been at odds over how much the city should provide over school transportation. It resulted in the City Council rejecting the mayor’s budget twice.

The School Committee had voted for a $17.1 million appropriation, but Coogan presented a different number at $900,000 less with the anticipation that the school redistricting would save on transportation.

The debates revolving around the school transportation costs got so divisive, the Council voted no confidence in Emily Arpke, Fall River’s Director of Financial Services. 

But the issue was put to bed on Tuesday with Coogan meeting the School Department’s transportation spending halfway and cut the appropriation down to a $450,000 balance from the original $900,000 in cuts.

It also came with a promise by the administration if there were a transportation shortfall, the administration would provide the needed funding.

And the City Council’s demand to get funding to hire an outside attorney got ugly at times, with Councilor Shawn Cadime stating publicly he would continue to vote down Coogan’s budget if the Council did not get the $40,000 appropriation and have control over the money.

Initially, Corporation Counsel Alan Rumsey opined that it was not lawful for the City Council to have a $40,000 line item to hire an outside attorney.

After a number of meetings with City Council President Cliff Ponte and City Council Vice President Michelle Dionne and members of the administration, the two sides entered into a memorandum of agreement. 

In the agreement, the City Council would get an annual appropriation of no less than $40,000 for outside legal advice, but the money would be in the corporation counsel’s budget.

In addition to passing the 2027 Fiscal Year Budge on Tuesday in an 8-1 vote, they also approved the MOA in an 8-1 vote. 

City Councilor Chris Peckham was the lone no vote on both issues.