The Finance Committee approved transferring about $285,000 between departments to balance the town’s budget at the close of the 2026 fiscal year.

The Select Board approved the fiscal year-end transfers at its last meeting. Under Massachusetts General Law, the Finance Committee also had to approve them before July 15. The 2026 fiscal year concluded on June 30.

The 2026 year-end transfers were lower than in the previous two years: about $663,000 in fiscal 2025 and $479,000 in fiscal 2024.

Finance Director Patrick Luddy said vacant positions created savings in several departments. There were nine positions that had at least a partial year vacancy, leading to money available for transfers.

“We’re grabbing savings there where we can,” Luddy said.

Finance Committee Member Liz Smith said that it’s “good that we have them” for the extra wiggle room this year.

Those vacancies also contributed to overtime costs in the Swampscott Fire Department.

The fire department operates with four shifts per day, requiring at least seven firefighters per shift to staff an engine and ladder truck, with eight preferred during winter months when possible.

Even outside training cycles, vacation and other leave regularly require overtime to maintain minimum staffing. Senior firefighters carry multiple weeks of vacation, and staffing minimums must still be met regardless of absences.

“The more senior people have many more weeks of vacation time benefits to use,” Chief Graham Archer previously told the Swampscott Tides, adding that because the department looks at a minimum number of people per truck it means even with people away, the station needs to be manned by at least seven firefighters. “Overtime is basically driven for one reason or another on any given shift that staffing would be drawn below that. It could be just for vacation time or personal time or maybe something short-term like someone’s sick.”

The Swampscott Fire Department’s overtime was $885,000 in the 2025 fiscal year, according to Luddy. It was $795,000 in the 2026 fiscal year.

The 2026 fiscal year included $556,000 for fire department overtime, but actual spending exceeded that amount by nearly $240,000.

“We’re a $200,000 reduction from actual. Is that realistic?” Smith asked.

Luddy said the 2027 fiscal year budget keeps fire department funding flat but assumes the department will remain fully staffed.

“It’s a bit of a gamble but that’s something the Select Board pushed for because we’re fully staffed,” said Finance Chair Eric Hartmann.

Luddy also said that he and Town Administrator Nick Connors meet with Archer regularly and look for “any efficiencies that were found, especially now that we’re fully staffed.”

“My impression was the chief was going to manage overtime,” Finance Committee Member Cinder McNerney said.

Luddy said that safety needs to be taken into account but that he, Connors and Archer will continue to meet.

The other area of question within the transfers was the salary for lifeguards. Although the general budget includes $25,000 for lifeguards, Luddy said he recently learned that not all lifeguard salaries are paid from that account.

“I’ve been talking with Charlotte (Daher de Garcia) about what to do going forward,” Luddy said, adding that town is considering how to better allocate lifeguard salaries between recreation programming and weekend beach coverage in future budgets.