Easthampton Finance Committee Trims $53,870 and Cuts Flock Camera Funding

EASTHAMPTON — June 10, 2026 — Easthampton's City Council Finance Committee voted to cut roughly $53,870 from the fiscal year 2027 override budget and moved to terminate the city's Flock Safety license plate camera contract. The committee, chaired by City Council President Justice Denham and including Councilors Schmidt and Dunham, spent more than three hours on June 10 trimming education, training, and travel lines across nearly every city department to bring spending closer to the no-override baseline. The most contested action was a unanimous vote to eliminate a $6,000 software maintenance line tied to Flock Safety cameras, following public comment from resident Michael Lynch, who presented records showing the city had participated in 4.2 million data searches shared with 143 outside organizations, including one linked to an out-of-state abortion investigation. Police Chief Alexandra said she had previously shut off data sharing but could not account for all of Lynch's findings without further review. The committee also reduced the sustainability coordinator salary from $52,762 to $31,036 by shifting part of the position to grant funding, cut police public safety supplies from $13,000 to $8,000, and left the schools budget and police training lines untouched. The full rebalanced budget goes to a Finance Committee vote on June 16 and to the full City Council on June 17.