Selectmen review draft FY26 budget and proposed town-meeting warrant; bridge, water-meter, paving and recycling articles under consideration

The Town of Blackstone’s Board of Selectmen on March 11 spent substantial time reviewing the FY26 draft budget and a draft list of warrant articles for the upcoming town meeting.

Administration said the budget is near-final and that staff is arranging a workshop to walk the board through line items before the board takes formal positions. Selectmen and administration discussed several notable potential warrant articles that could appear on the special or annual town meeting warrants:

- Bridge design (St. Paul Street): administration proposed funding design work after the town did not receive a Small Bridge grant; design would allow the town to bid replacement or repair work. Officials said the bridge dates to the 19th/early 20th century and requires an engineered replacement option. - Water-meter replacement program: staff presented an initial vendor-based estimate of $1,309,440 plus contingency for townwide meter replacement and recommended adding contingency before going to bid; financing would be through water enterprise/retained earnings rather than general-taxation. - Paving and road work: $550,000 was proposed and department backups list candidate streets for the package. - Lake Hiawatha dam: $50,000 was proposed for urgent repair work after the state identified needed work; staff recommended confirming title/ownership before committing funds and asked town counsel for a title search estimate of roughly two hours of labor. - Munis (finance/ERP) upgrade: administration recommended a software upgrade that would add purchase-order and invoice automation, reduce manual processing and fix check-printing alignment problems; meeting materials noted one-time implementation costs with reduced ongoing charges. - Recycling capital requests: the recycling center requested a skid steer ($579,619) and a baler ($258,125); board members discussed whether roll-off dumpsters or a baler strategy would be more cost-effective for the town’s recycling operations and noted that the new waste-hauler contract’s toter rollout may change future needs. - Opioid-settlement fund set-up: administration proposed moving opioid-settlement receipts into a special-revenue account for allowable public-health uses.

Several requests were flagged for further study: museum-step repairs after a front step collapsed, senior-van winter parking options at the pavilion site, the status of conservation-commission vacancies, and a grant application status for other bridges. The board directed administration to schedule a budget/warrant workshop and to circulate more detailed back-up materials before finalizing the warrant for signature.

Why it matters: Warrant-article decisions drive capital spending, town infrastructure projects and multi-year enterprise investments that affect tax and ratepayer dollars. Officials emphasized identifying grant opportunities while also preparing municipal funding when grants are not secured.

Next steps: Administration will produce final budget documents, schedule a workshop for selectmen and meet with boards and committees; the board indicated a preference to finalize a warrant in time for the finance committee’s required public hearing window.