Cambridge City Council Adopts $1.02 Billion Budget, Approves $144 Million in Loans

CAMBRIDGE — June 1, 2026 — Cambridge City Council adopts $1.02 billion FY27 budget and endorses Hyatt Regency boycott. The council voted 8-0, with Councilor Jivan Al-Zubi casting a present vote, to approve the $1,018,105,440 general fund budget, which includes a $250,000 amendment adding $200,000 for housing initiatives — including the new Social Housing Task Force and the Cambridge Community Land Trust — and $50,000 to expand immigrant legal services to full-time. The council unanimously adopted 12 capital loan orders totaling more than $144 million for projects ranging from a $28.5 million municipal facilities improvement plan to a $10 million Massachusetts Avenue reconstruction to a $1 million Harvard Square sewer separation program. By a 5-2 vote with two members voting present, the council disapproved continued use of ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology, over procedural objections from Councilor Paul Flaherty, who argued the city had not completed the required findings under its surveillance technology ordinance; a reconsideration motion failed 3-6. The council also voted unanimously to endorse a Unite Here Local 26 boycott of the Hyatt Regency Cambridge after hotel workers described being written up for waving at colleagues on a picket line, and adopted a substituted Policy Order 4 directing the city manager — in collaboration with the Urban Forestry Division, DPW, and the Community Development Department — to develop tree protection ordinance recommendations that do not negatively impact housing development, with a June 22 Health and Environment Committee meeting set for further deliberation.