Peabody Council Rejects Security Director Cut, Approves $23M Water Budget

PEABODY -- June 18, 2026, Peabody Finance Committee approves city budgets and transfers while rejecting a bid to eliminate the Facility Security Division. Sitting as the Committee of the Whole on June 18, the council voted 7-4 to retain the position held by Keith Bloom, whose $95,968 salary plus roughly $13,000 in stipends drew scrutiny from Councilor Michael Turco, who called the cut strictly a monetary decision, and Councilor Toni Manning-Martin, who argued the ARPA-funded COVID-era post had outlasted its justification. The council did vote 10-1 to eliminate an environmental engineer position in the water and sewer enterprise, reducing the line by $80,742, and cut the unfilled golf course equipment technician from full funding to $42,333 to allow a more competitive job advertisement. Finance Director Michael Gingras reported MWRA water purchase costs will jump from $1.9 million to $3.4 million in FY2027 due to ongoing drought conditions, and that the city's Aa3 Moody's bond rating was affirmed ahead of a $32.7 million bond sale settling July 1. The council also approved $1,926,200 in end-of-year transfers, including $659,100 from free cash, and unanimously backed the $23 million water and sewer enterprise fund and the $14,487,962 public services budget.