Employee Benefits
What the city pays toward its employees' health insurance, retirement pensions, and other benefits, on top of their salaries. This has been one of the fastest-growing costs in the whole budget.
This rose to $44,850,836 this year, about 7% more than the $41,883,562 it was in FY2025. Put another way: this took up about 23.5% of the total city budget back in FY2017 - today it's 24.7%, meaning the city has made this a bigger priority than it used to be.
Computed from each fiscal year's own adopted budget figures below - see Methodology.
By Fiscal Year
| Fiscal Year | Adopted Amount |
|---|---|
| FY2026 | $44,850,836 |
| FY2025 | $41,883,562 |
| FY2024 | $36,394,181 |
| FY2023 | $34,364,762 |
| FY2022 | $33,321,866 |
| FY2021 | $32,536,012 |
| FY2020 | $31,410,812 |
| FY2019 | $30,238,187 |
| FY2018 | $28,564,600 |
| FY2017 | $26,575,000 |
| FY2016 | — |
Who Runs It
The city administers health insurance under its own rules; pensions go through the Fitchburg Retirement System, which follows state pension law.
Governing law: M.G.L. c. 32 (Pensions) & c. 32B (Group Health Insurance)