[Ed note: My Southborough accepts signed letters to the editor submitted by Southborough residents. Letters may be emailed to mysouthborough@gmail.com.
The following letter is from Al Hamilton, a member of the Select Board.
To the Editor:
On Saturday, February 8, the Select Board, Advisory Committee and the heads of the largest departments in town, Schools, DPW, Police, Fire, met to discuss the FY 26 budget. This meeting was solely for the purpose of reviewing the FY 2026 budget not the proposed Neary Building program which is separate. Going into the meeting, the various departments in town were requesting in total about $5.55 million increase in the budget. This would have raised taxes on the median value home (2026 estimated home value of $983,138) from $13,223 to $14,866, a $1,643 or 12.43% increase. The “As Requested Budget” would require a $1.2 million Prop 2½ operating override.
After lengthy presentations and discussions, the Advisory Committee and Select Board whittled the sums down a bit with the total increase now about $4 million. This would lead to a tax increase on the median valued home of $1,223 or about 9.25%. From a taxpayer’s perspective, this is obviously not a happy outcome. The drivers of this increase are:
Tax Shift – The burden of paying for town government is expected to continue to shift from the Commercial, Industrial, Personal Property towards residential properties. The shift is small but continuing.
Police and Fire – Both of these budgets show hefty increases. For the police department this comes in 2 parts. First is an increase to meet the market for police officers. We have been losing officers to communities that pay more and this market reality is factored into the budget. The second cause of increase is the addition of 2.5 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) officers over the next year. This would be the addition of 4 officers staggered over the year. The Fire Department is approaching increased staffing levels by additional overtime and the addition of a Deputy Chief.
Capital – The chickens are coming home to roost. We have kicked the can down the road on a number of items for years and we have reached the point where we cannot delay further on several projects. The biggest is the Willow Street Culvert. This project will cost in the neighborhood of $3 million and will be bonded so it will only have a modest impact on FY 26. Next is the Central Street sinkhole at $300,000 and repairs to a failing culvert on Johns Street that will strand residents if it fails completely. There is also $100,000 for the design of the replacement of the Trottier roof.
Benefits – The last big budget driver is benefits. It appears that health care benefits are rising rapidly due to prescription costs driven by weight control prescriptions.
I wish I could tell you that there is light at the end of the tunnel, but I regret that it is an on rushing train. FY 27 will be no bed of roses. We will have to pay for a full year of the 4 new police officers and possibly 2 more, School Union contracts will be up, we know of other failing culverts and will likely discover more, and we have no reason to expect any financial help from the Federal Government (we do get a little now). We can expect that labor costs will continue to rise. It is certain that a Proposition 2 ½ operating override will be required in the next fiscal year.
Are there places we could save money now? Yes, there is no way to describe the town’s administrative functions as efficient. Town departments operate in Balkanized silos. Town boards often operate at cross purposes. The problem is that making changes to this ossified structure is hard and unpopular in the short run. These savings will not be realized as long as Town Meeting rubber stamps the status quo. If you want a 9% tax increase next year and similar one’s next year and the year after that and the year after that, then change is not necessary.
I would respectfully suggest that the time has come to think about how we want our government to be structured for the next 100 years. Do we want to have so many elected boards and officials when most of the occupants run unopposed? Should we move to a Town Manager form of government? Should we have a representative Town Meeting which would prevent single issue voters stacking the result? Should we begin regionalizing additional functions of government? Should we consolidate departments and functions? These are big and hard questions. We should summon the courage to confront them. The time has come to form a Charter Commission to define the future form of our Town government. We should expect a lively and fulsome debate. As we celebrate our 300th anniversary of governing ourselves, I can think of no better way to honor those that have built our town over the last 300 years than to continue the process of evolving the gift of self-government they have entrusted us with.
Al Hamilton
35 Pine Hill Road
