MONTAGUE — As the town begins developing its fiscal year 2028 budget, a $573,235 shortfall is prompting the Selectboard to consider adjusting solid waste disposal fees.
Town Administrator Walter Ramsey gave the Selectboard a first look at what costs are driving the preliminary FY28 budget, including school assessments, employee benefits and public works.
In an Oct. 22 memo Ramsey prepared for the Selectboard and Finance Committee, he wrote that this deficit is “not an insurmountable gap,” but nonetheless, the direction of the budget is “concerning, particularly given the major capital and debt obligations” the town is facing in the years ahead. The preliminary FY28 budget, accounting for level services, is projected to be $33.29 million.
Trash disposal and a new contract
Ramsey is making a few recommendations based on the projected deficit. The first, made in collaboration with the town accountant, treasurer and public works superintendent, is for the Selectboard to consider increasing trash and barrel sticker fees beginning Jan. 1, 2027. This would be the first time in 19 years that these fees would be increased.
“That’s our biggest budget gap that we have control over at this point,” Ramsey said.
The solid waste budget line item is seeing the largest increase at 16.9%, or $147,388, for curbside collection costs, in the wake of a two-year contract extension proposal from Casella Waste Systems.
“It is … absolutely possible to get this budget balanced between now and May, but it starts with looking at solid waste,” Ramsey said about adjusting fees to support the budget.
Ramsey recommends the board vote to increase trash stickers from $3 to $5 and barrel stickers from $156 to $260. This works out to an extra $5 per week for a family using one bag of trash weekly and one barrel for disposal.
Notably, the fee change would not offer a “full expense recovery” for the curbside collection program. Rather, the increase would leave 39.6% of fees uncovered. Although increasing the rates to $8 per trash sticker and $416 per barrel would fully eliminate the gap, the recommendation is not to raise fees that high.
In the meeting materials, a graph shows how sticker revenue hasn’t kept pace with the curbside collection and disposal expenses for several years, dating back to fiscal year 2013. When the town switched its trash hauling vendor to Casella in 2023, with the contract going into effect for fiscal year 2025, there was a large jump in collection and disposal costs, while sticker revenue only increased slightly.
The projected cost for curbside collection by the end of this fiscal year sits at $759,543, followed by $827,902 in FY28, while revenue from stickers, if no adjustment is made, is projected at just above $325,000.
“I think we need to look long and hard at what that fee is, because we’re having real budget impacts from this,” Selectboard Chair Richard Kuklewicz said about the sticker fees.
Selectboard member Nate Card sought public engagement around the sticker fees and waste disposal.
“I think this is a place where it would just be really great to engage the community in a meaningful way, because this is something that affects all of us,” Card said.
Additional budget drivers
Outside of waste disposal, other drivers impacting the preliminary FY28 budget include a $277,000 increase in employee benefits, a public works budget increase of $215,000, an increase of nearly $200,000 for employee salaries within the general fund, along with a $472,591 combined assessment increase for both the Gill-Montague Regional School District and Franklin County Technical School.
Ramsey pointed to the town’s excess tax levy capacity of $980,000 that the Selectboard can consider, though he recommended this not be solely relied upon, especially as taxpayers will already be seeing increases in taxes for projects like the new library and the Franklin Tech building.
Ramsey said he’s looking at giving a level-funded budget directive to department heads, along with a directive to explore where budgets can be reduced.
“I just know all our department heads and virtually all employees work really hard to keep things financially efficient all the time,” resident Ariel Elan said, adding that it “pains” her to hear the question asked of department heads.
