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Uxbridge budget message: town manager projects 5.29% increase, flags health and pension pressures
Summary
Town Manager Steve presented the Town of Uxbridge’s FY26 budget message, projecting a 5.29% increase driven largely by employee benefits, retirement assessments and special‑education costs; he outlined revenue assumptions and options for capital funding and free‑cash policy changes.
Town Manager Steve delivered the Town of Uxbridge’s FY26 budget message to the joint finance committee on April 9, laying out the process, revenue assumptions and pressures that produced a preliminary 5.29% spending increase for the coming year. "The budget is balanced at... and that is a 5.29% overall increase," Steve said during his presentation of revenue forecasts and departmental assumptions.
Steve outlined the steps that produced the draft budget: departmental level‑service requests, capital request reviews, and consultation with local and state revenue forecasts. He said the town projects modest new growth and a small increase in state aid on the governor’s House 1 figures, and is building the budget on a combination of tax levy, local receipts and limited state assistance.
Major cost drivers Steve identified were rising employee benefit costs and retirement assessments; the town expects significant increases in health‑insurance premiums for active employees and retirees and an over‑10% increase in Worcester County retirement assessments. "The major increases in the whole budget are pensions and pension insurance," he said, noting Worcester County’s mandate to move toward full funding.
Steve and board members discussed free cash and stabilization policy. The presentation referenced Department of Revenue (DOR) guidance that free cash around 5–7% of annual budget is prudent. Steve said Uxbridge currently holds roughly $4.5 million combined in free cash and stabilization and described a strategy to prioritize capital uses and reduce undesignated balances by applying surplus funds to debt or capital rather than leaving them as free cash.
The town manager and finance staff also described an effort to improve transparency and budgeting tools, including a new accounting software module planned to go live with utility allocations in FY27 and a governance compact grant to support financial policy work. Steve noted steps to limit one‑time appropriations and to better plan multi‑year capital needs in a payment‑management plan.
Members questioned assumptions about new growth, local receipts (including anticipated meals‑tax revenue from new businesses), and rounding conventions used in certain slides; Steve said some projected revenue increases reflect moving previously revolving receipts into the operating budget (for example, animal control) and that growth assumptions are intentionally conservative.
The presentation closed with a breakdown of how the average Uxbridge tax bill is allocated across schools, public safety, public works and other services, and a preview of union contract expirations that will affect FY27 negotiations. No final town vote was taken at the April 9 meeting; the committee continued the public hearing to April 10 for further review.
