Mayor Coogan optimistic as special Fall River City Council meeting scheduled to approve fiscal year 2027 budget; CFO updating to reflect $1 million in cuts

FALL RIVER ─ It looks like Mayor Paul Coogan’s administration will get another swing at a chance to get approval of his fiscal year 2027 budget by the City Council after a meeting in the mayor’s office on Thursday.

It will be the last-ditch effort to avoid the city being forced into a restrictive and disruptive 1/12 budget would require city departments to budget on a month-by-month basis.

Coogan said he met with Council President Cliff Ponte and Council Vice President Michelle Dionne and the three agreed to schedule a special meeting on Tuesday, June 30, the last day of the 2026 fiscal year and the deadline to pass the budget.

Last Tuesday, the City Council voted in a 7-2 vote to reject all items in the budget and to reduce the appropriation to zero on Tuesday after a contentious meeting.

Coogan said he felt the administration and council “will be able to finish this thing up.”

“We do have some cuts to make that were voted on by the council. Emily (CFO) will be working on it all day tomorrow. We sat down with the councilors, and we came up with a compromise,” said Coogan.

The budget does need to be updated to reflect over $1 million in cuts made by the council at the last meeting.

But it’s unclear whether the sticking point of some City Councilors is part of the compromise.

It’s a demand repeated throughout the budget process to appropriate $40,000 to the council’s budget for legal services outside of the corporation counsel’s office.

It’s been the root of some hostile debates between Corporation Counsel Alan Rumsey and in particular, Ponte and City Councilor Shawn Cadime.

The administration attempted a compromise by appropriating the $40,000 but placed the money in the corporation counsel’s budget.

Cadime reiterated his claim last Tuesday that he would not approve the fiscal year 2027 budget unless the counsel had control of the $40,000.

A meeting time will have to be set tomorrow to meet the 48-hour required meeting notice.