Chicopee Council Approves $3 Million Free Cash Transfer to Cut FY2027 Tax Levy

CHICOPEE -- June 16, 2026, Chicopee City Council approves $4.75 million in free cash transfers, including $3 million in tax relief. The 13-member council voted unanimously Tuesday on a package of year-end financial orders presented by the mayor, highlighted by a $3 million appropriation from the undesignated free cash account to reduce the FY2027 tax levy, a $1 million deposit to the city's Other Post-Employment Benefits trust fund, and a $750,000 reserve for two unsettled union contracts. Councilor Brooks voted yes but cautioned residents that rising property valuations in FY27 would likely offset much of the levy reduction: "I don't want homeowners taking away from this meeting that they're going to see a reduction in their annual property tax, because that is likely not the case." The council also accepted a $226,480 state fiber redundancy grant and a $28,192.82 federal bulletproof vest grant for the Police Department, approved advancing a syringe disposal hotline and naloxone box program to the mayor for funding review, and defeated 0-13 a proposal to hold a public subcommittee hearing on battery storage facilities after Councilor Cushain detailed the city's lack of legal authority to compel companies to appear without a yet-to-be-drafted local ordinance. A nomination of Melissa Harms to the Parks and Recreation Commission fell one vote short of the two-thirds needed to waive the HR subcommittee referral requirement and was sent to committee for a public hearing.