Finance Committee reviews $25.8 million FY27 Select Board budget; questions Free Cash and staffing cuts

The Bedford Finance Committee on Feb. 5 heard a presentation on the Select Board's proposed $25,828,000 FY27 budget from Town Manager Matthew Hanson, Assistant Town Manager Amy Fidalgo and Select Board Chair Paul Mortenson.

Hanson said the plan represents a 2% increase over FY26 and falls below the Committee's 2.5% guideline, attributing the result to expense management, staffing adjustments and revenue optimization. He said the proposal reduces Free Cash'funded road spending to $1.6 million (from $1.75 million in FY26), increases police overtime to address a longstanding deficit, and removes approximately three FTEs from general government through a mix of part-time eliminations and modest hourly adjustments.

The budget continues a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment for about 70 non-union Salary Bylaw employees; it also includes $50,000 in merit funding that the managers said will be moved from a warrant article into departmental budgets so those increases are tracked year to year. "Merit funding will be moved from a warrant article into the departmental budget to improve year-to-year tracking," Hanson said.

Committee members pressed presenters for detail. Finance Committee Chair Ben Thomas asked for clarification about the merit adjustments and how they would be accounted for; Hanson replied that the COLA and merit approach is intended to maintain fairness between union and non-union staff while keeping budget discipline. Philip Prince asked about an 8.5% reduction in reported water usage; Hanson said the town is being reassessed by MWRA and the change reflects reclassification factors tied to connection, volume and time in the system.

Mark Bailey asked whether unfunded Council on Aging (COA) requests would reduce services. Hanson said there would be no reduction in services and that the staffing change for COA involves limited weekday part-time hour reductions while keeping four FTE staff on-site daily and maintaining Saturday staffing. David Williams of 17 School Ave. had urged the committee during public comment not to cut the COA budget, saying the town's population is about 25% over age 60 and that the COA request should be funded.

Department-level adjustments include shifting $60,000 of the Energy and Sustainability Manager salary to a consulting line at the ESC Committee's request; a $300,000 increase in Shawsheen Tech assessment (student count rising from 45 to 53, increasing that line from $1.196M to $1.529M); finance increases for postage and auditing; Fire Department reallocation of 0.5 administrative FTE and a lieutenant to the ambulance line to reflect duties and to support operating two ambulances more frequently to generate transport revenue; Public Works reducing its roads line to $1.6M while aiming to maintain pavement condition; Health requesting modest funding to restore in-office therapy services; and IT adding funds for a dedicated fiber ISP for BPS offset by savings from a full conversion to MUNIS.

Hanson told the Committee Free Cash had not yet been certified but that staff were confident the model would be funded as presented. He added that, while he did not anticipate immediate negative operational impacts from the staffing reductions, the town is monitoring potential future needs including a possible food bank relocation, fire station reuse planning and a projected PEG budget gap of about $90,000 within three to four years.

Committee members expressed support for the new budget format and thanked staff for the presentation. The Committee took no formal vote on the budget at the Feb. 5 meeting; the managers and the Select Board will continue through the warrant and certification process.

The Committee adjourned at 8:36 p.m.