Fall River City Council Rejects Entire FY2027 Budget, Triggers Continuing Appropriation

FALL RIVER -- June 30, 2026, Fall River City Council rejects the entire $483.3 million FY2027 budget and votes no confidence in the city's interim CFO. The nine-member council voted 6-3 along a consistent split on every line item of the revised appropriation order at a June 30 special meeting called by Mayor Paul Coogan on the final day of the fiscal year, pushing the city into a continuing appropriation, the state's successor term for what was once called a one-twelfth budget, effective July 1. Council Vice President DeAndre Harris said the impasse was not over the disputed $40,000 city council legal fund alone but over a failed memorandum of agreement that Corporation Counsel Alan Rumsey refused to sign as an agreeable party, telling the mayor's office he was "not allowed to sign an agreement like that." A separate 6-3 no-confidence vote against Interim CFO Anne O'Neill Sousa followed extended questioning over an unresolved $900,000 gap in school transportation funding, with Councilor Chris Peckham saying, "I have very little confidence in you to handle $500 million." The council approved a letter requesting the mayor submit a continuing appropriation budget, which allows city operations to continue for up to 90 days.