City Council Meeting

The City Council meeting focused primarily on the FY26 operating and capital budgets, several appointments, and referrals of ordinance and land-acquisition matters. After a public hearing on the FY26 budget that included testimony from students, school staff and union representatives supporting higher school funding, the Council voted through line items: accepting unobjected budget items totaling $42,889,686 and approving the Amesbury Public Schools appropriation of $39,842,711 (8-1). The Council also approved specific line items including Council on Aging Personal Services ($171,892), the Library budget ($937,670), and enterprise budgets for Water ($4,843,166), Sewer ($3,448,901), and Cable Public Access ($325,000). The Council's final combined FY26 appropriation was approved at $92,459,026 (8-1). Discussions during the budget hearing noted levy-capacity constraints and trade-offs between school and city-side funding.

The Council approved several appointments: Delaney Kingsland to the Conservation Commission and James Humphries as Constable; it reappointed KP Law as City Attorney (vote 7-1-1). The Council accepted a substitution and approved Order 2025-047 to appropriate Free Cash for FY26 capital expenditures and discharged the Budget & Finance Committee from obligation on that order. Multiple orders and ordinances were referred to appropriate committees for review, including wetlands and floodplain ordinance amendments (2025-054) and an inter-municipal animal-control IMA (2025-068). The proposed acquisition of 128 Kimball Road for water supply protection and conservation and a related EEA grant (2025-072 and 2025-073) were referred to multiple committees and boards for further consideration.