The City Council met with Mayor Ruthanne Fuller Thursday night to talk about the upcoming FY2026 budget process, and there was an elephant in the room. And that elephant’s name is Donald.

The Committee of the Whole meeting (that’s when the whole Council meets in a committee format) is held every year to discuss budget priorities and budget challenges of the coming fiscal year.

One challenge that shows itself every year, for example, is that Newton tends to experience only around 2 percent growth, similar to Brookline and Natick. So city councilors and departments have to keep that in mind when figuring out what to ask for in the budget.

And a new challenge coming to budget planning is brought by President Donald Trump—who has promised to crack down on undocumented immigration, sanctuary cities and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives—and the possible federal funding losses to the city his mandates may entail.

Fuller read from a memo drafted by new Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy (who many in a certain age group will remember as the conservative law student and handsome lumberjack model in the 1997 season of MTV’s The Real World), in which Duffy says the Trump administration will prioritize funding for communities that eliminate DEI, abolish mask and vaccine mandates and “give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average.”

Fuller also mentioned a memo written by new U.S. Attorney General, Pam Bondi, pledging to keep sanctuary communities from getting federal funds.

What does this all mean? Since it’s unlikely Newton city officials will start turning in undocumented immigrants or scrapping DEI programs, and unlikely the city will see a local baby boom any time soon (more than half the city is over 45 years old), it’s possible the city will lose federal funding.

As it turns out, Newton doesn’t get that much direct money from the federal government.

“We have, I would say, relatively limited exposure to direct federal funding, particularly compared to other cities and towns in Massachusetts,” Fuller said.

Newton’s overall annual expenses are a little less than $600 million, and only about $12 million of that is covered by federal funds.

“They matter, though. They’re very important dollars,” Fuller added.

Direct federal funds cover:

• About $5 million for Newton’s schools
• $1.5 million for school lunches
• $800,000 to $2.2 million for Medicaid reimbursement
• $3.55 million for planning and community development
• $500,000 for firefighter training

There are also various grants that come through for police department initiatives from time to time.

“So that’s the exposure,” Fuller said.

If things “go sour” after the fiscal year starts in July, Fuller said the city is planning conservatively for adjustments to allow the city to retract if needed.

“I’ll give you the bad news though: One of the easiest budgets to cut back on is roads,” Fuller said. That’s because road crew contract work can be cut back at different times throughout the year.

“All of us are going to be living this together and finding a way forward to do best by the people who live and work in Newton,” Fuller said. “Uncertainty is tough, and there’s lots of it.”