BROCKTON, Mass. — Brockton's interim chief financial officer told the City Council's Finance Committee on Monday that the city faces a budget gap for fiscal 2028 so large he sees no way to keep current services without cuts, new revenue or help from the state, and that some of those cuts could mean layoffs.

"I can't give you a specific number, but it's a very, very big number," he said. "And it'll be difficult for us to get past that without quite a bit of pain of some kind."

The warning came as the committee took up a $27,511.93 transfer from the city's stabilization fund to cover raises in a three-year contract with the department heads' union. The contract was signed before he took the job. It provides a 2% raise in the first year and 1% in each of the next two, according to the discussion at the meeting.

In a letter to the council about the contract, the CFO wrote that he could not certify there would be enough money for the raises in the contract's last two years. He added that the city's finances do not support giving similar raises to other bargaining units, a councilor said, reading from the letter.

"I don't want to sugarcoat it," the CFO told the committee. He said that even if the city borrows to close the gap, "we're gonna have pain paying back that borrowing over time." He added that Brockton does not currently have the authority to borrow for that purpose.

Reserves running low

When a councilor asked about the stabilization fund, an official said the general fund holds a few hundred thousand dollars, less than $500,000.

Another councilor, citing an auditor's presentation the week before, said the city used about $12 million in stabilization money to close gaps in the fiscal 2027 budget. He noted that the money is no longer there, and that any borrowing would need state approval.

The CFO said that when he arrived, his predecessor assured him the fiscal 2027 budget was balanced, and that it wasn't. He said the state Department of Revenue had grown suspicious of the city's optimistic revenue estimates and has told Brockton it will no longer accept them.

He said his office will put together a forecast of the fiscal 2028 budget for the mayor, the council and the school department, with recommendations. He said the recommendations should come before the end of the calendar year so the city can bring any request for help to the Legislature when it returns to session.

'The problem is here in Brockton'

The CFO said the city's school budgets are largely protected by the state's net school spending requirements, which leaves public safety and other essential services exposed. He said he doesn't think the school department's current transportation model can be sustained.

One councilor said that without higher fees or service cuts, the alternative is state receivership. The CFO said receivership wouldn't solve the problem.

"The problem is here in Brockton, it's not down on Beacon Hill," he said, describing a level of service that the city's revenue can't support and costs that are mostly fixed by union contracts.

A committee member described the police department as increasingly short-staffed. Another speaker urged a greater sense of urgency, recalling an earlier period when the city laid off 31 police officers, 35 firefighters and 200 teachers and was down to two police cruisers on patrol.