Local mayors share economic challenges and budget struggles during Springfield Regional Chamber's annual forum

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The Springfield Regional Chamber invited its members to hear from area mayors Friday morning.
Members of the area's business community are hearing directly from the people leading our western Massachusetts cities. The Springfield Regional Chamber's annual mayors forum brings together the mayors from Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties.
'Which means that the guests here hearing from the mayors really get this unique perspective of what's happening, you know,w really across that tri-town area, including economic development, how communities are managing their challenges,' said Diana Szynal, President of Springfield Regional Chamber.
Mayor Sarno announces Fiscal Year 2026 Budget for City of Springfield
This forum comes at a time when our mayors say cuts at the federal level are being felt at the local level. Their working to navigate uncertainties, which they say their 2026 budgets, will likely reflect.Chicopee Mayor John Vieau spoke to recent challenges, saying the city of Chicopee issued a spending freeze for May and June, and as they finalize the budget, they're looking to cut things out of it. 'There's a lot of just uncertainty right now with what's happening. And the goal is to focus on providing the best public services that we can.'
Meanwhile, in Westfield, Mayor McCabe said health care increases proved difficult this year. He said the city went from about $16 million for employee health care benefits to over $21 million, an increase of $4.6 million, that the city doesn't have sitting in cash reserve.
'When you're asked to kind of just absorb that in a budget, where you can only raise taxes by 2.5%, that's an impossibility, Michael McCabe, Mayor of the City of Westfield, told 22News.
Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle tells attendees that the increases and gaps they're facing are different now than they have been historically. 'It's not sustainable how we fund our cities and towns, and how we take care of our employees and our residents.'Each city has different priorities for its 2026 budget, but all are navigating challenges in what they agree is a difficult economic time.
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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