Framingham Board of Health loses mosquito spraying, health manager in FY2027 budget cuts

FRAMINGHAM — June 9, 2026 — Framingham Board of Health warns of bare-bones FY2027 budget as mosquito spraying eliminated. Public Health Director Bill Murphy told the board at the June 9 meeting that city-mandated cuts of roughly $80,000 to $100,000 stripped the department of its community health manager, all adult adulticide mosquito truck spraying, ditch management, RAM Medical Clinic support, and mobile health unit funding, leaving only a partial restoration of per diem nursing funds after board member Dr. Elisa Valente made a public appeal at a City Council meeting. Eastern Middlesex Mosquito Control Project superintendent Brian Farlas warned that adulticide spraying is the only effective control for Coquillettidia perturbans, the city's dominant EEE bridge vector, which appears in Framingham traps by the thousands. Environmental Health Manager Bethany Yates presented a draft fee schedule — the first revision since 2011 — benchmarked against ten comparable municipalities, projecting at least $91,000 in new annual permit revenue; a public hearing is planned for September. Murphy told the board flatly: "We are bare bones. There's no safety net."