Mohammed Uddin, the city council finance analyst, presented the FY25 second-quarter spending update to the Somerville Finance Committee on Feb. 11 and projected a potential operating surplus in the range of $18 million to $22 million based on actual spending through mid-December.

Uddin explained his methodology: he pulled mid-December Munis reports of personnel and ordinary maintenance appropriations and spending, calculated average weekly spend rates, and projected those trends forward to the end of the fiscal year. Using that flatlined projection, he reported a projected $22,000,000 surplus. “If we want to get even more conservative, we could take a 25% cut from that. And then we're projecting around maybe $18,000,000 in potential operating dollar surpluses,” he told the committee.

Uddin and committee members cautioned that the projection has limitations: seasonal spending (spring cleanup, snow expenses), personnel changes (hires, retirements), large one-time vendor payments and payments that post at year-end can materially change outturns. Councilors said the report is useful for budgeting and noted particular line items—such as public-works seasonality and youth-program allocations—merit follow-up.

Committee members asked the analyst to continue quarterly reporting and to develop historical charts illustrating when departments spike spending during the year. The committee recorded the briefing as work completed.