A Very Interesting Snapshot of the Competence, Experience, and Finesse the New CFO Brings To Framingham

The video interview may be accessed at the Government Channel at this link, or on the recently launched YouTube Channel: Framingham Government In Action at this link.

An AI generated summary is included in the Description of that video and is also reproduced below. The summary has been curated and annotated by the author of this article.

Format: A "Framingham Today" cable access interview hosted by Doug Stefan and Dennis Giombetti, featuring Mayor Charlie Sisitsky and new CFO Brian Turbitt, discussing Turbitt's background and the city's FY2027 budget process.

Brian Turbitt's Background

Turbitt started as Framingham's CFO on April 23, 2026, coming from Nantucket, where he served as Director of Municipal Finance for 12 years. Earlier career stops included private-sector mergers & acquisitions work, a stint auditing municipalities in Vermont, and six years as Finance Director in Millbury, MA (2008–2014). He holds degrees in business management and accounting from Norwich University. He noted his father worked 38 years for the State of Vermont, giving him an early appreciation for public service. Before applying, he spent roughly 18 months watching Framingham City Council and Finance Subcommittee meetings (and read years of Nantucket's audits before taking that job) to understand the community's dynamics.

Joining Mid-Budget-Crisis

Turbitt arrived in the middle of a contentious budget season (the budget had been rejected by the Council), and he and the Mayor spent roughly 40 days rebuilding it collaboratively. He emphasized patience and a methodical approach, drawing on similar experiences starting jobs mid-cycle in both Millbury and Nantucket.

Why the Budget Was So Difficult This Year

Mayor Sisitsky attributed budget pressure primarily to a drop in federal funding flowing through to state/local aid, which hit harder after several COVID-era years of unusually generous federal money. Turbitt also flagged rising health insurance costs (an ~11% increase, driven partly by a ~7.5% GIC base rate hike and more employees enrolling in city plans). [Annotation: The budget pressure could be much more accurately attributed to the drop in state FY27 Chapter 70 education funding, not the drop in federal funding.]

Levy Capacity / Tax Rate Discussion

A notable technical point: Framingham has significant unused levy capacity under Proposition 2½ — roughly $41 million (taxed $233M against an allowable ~$275M) — because early City Councils chose to raise taxes by only 1.5%/year rather than the full 2.5% allowed, accumulating unused capacity over time. This was contrasted with Nantucket, which taxes to the full levy limit annually. [Annotation: Dennis Giombetti misremembers the property tax levy increases for 2019-2021, which were: -0.25%, 0.9%, -2.0%, 0.1%, which generated about $30 million/year in additional unused capacity, and that lost revenue is a principal cause of Framingham's current financial problems.]

Free Cash / Structural Budget Issues

Turbitt was candid that using free cash (about $10 million) to fund the operating budget is financially unhealthy and a rating-agency concern — reserves should fund one-time expenses or capital, not recurring operations. He is required to present a plan to wean the budget off this reliance over time, and noted Framingham's free cash levels (recurring, sizable) are something of an outlier suggesting systemic under/over-forecasting.

Other Priorities Turbitt Outlined

• Long-term financial planning/forecasting — his signature push, focusing on four "pillars": debt service, pension obligations, contractual/employee obligations, and health insurance costs. [Annotation: This is a very welcome and long overdue change, which will make a huge difference to the ability of city to plan its annual budget rather than wing it each year, with a focus on cuts, not money-saving investments. This addresses the biggest failure of the City Council and City Administrations over the last 8 years.]
• A more readable, narrative-driven budget document (modeled on Nantucket's "department stories" approach) so both officials and residents can understand it, not just line-item numbers. [Annotation: This is a 2nd very welcome and long overdue change, which will make a huge difference to the ability of the community to understand the budget.]
• Reforming the capital planning process, better aligning what's budgeted for capital projects with what departments can realistically execute in a given year, since capital is largely funded by debt. [Annotation: This is a 3rd very welcome and long overdue change, which will finally make clear the huge problem created by deferred maintenance of the water & sewer system, the roads, city buildings (especially roofs) and the lack of action on solar installations: roofs and parking lot canopies, which could be generating $1-2 million in utility savings for the city.]

City Council vs. Town Meeting

Turbitt discussed his experience with Nantucket's open town meeting (which he called "the purest form of democracy") versus Framingham's city council system, saying his view is evolving — councils offer more financial flexibility to act quickly compared to waiting for annual town meetings.

Role & Relationship with Administration

Turbitt described taking on a broader role than a typical CFO, helping cover other administrative gaps (e.g., support for the COO, who is also serving as acting DPW Director). Both he and the Mayor described the relationship as being established as a "key" partnership from the interview process onward. Turbitt stated he keeps his role deliberately apolitical, focused on presenting numbers and options rather than policy advocacy — while acknowledging schools have independent statutory authority over their bottom-line budget allocation.

Personal/Light Content

Significant portions of the interview were informal banter — comparisons between Nantucket and Framingham life, Mayor Sisitsky's and Dennis Giombetti's career backgrounds (civil engineering/city planning; psychology and tech industry, respectively), Framingham political history (north-side/south-side dynamics under the old town-meeting system), and closing pleasantries welcoming Turbitt to the city.

[Annotation: There was also an interesting difference of opinion between Doug Stefan and Dennis Giombetti, in which Doug repeated the ‘old guard’ refrain that money spent on the schools is not wisely invested nor well managed, and needs more city oversight, while Dennis noted that the school system has the School Committee as its governing body for financial management and state law blocks city side interference to its power for good reason.

That exchange near the end of the meeting highlights one of the central problems plaguing the city, where powerful 'old guard' City Councilors consistently try to cut funds to the schools and have been very successful at that over the last 8 years.]