Ashland town budget rises 3.67% as committee advances water bond, utility budgets and capital reserve articles

Kendall Hughes, chairing the Jan. 14 hearing, presented the town budget and said the proposed general-fund budget is $4,117,206, an increase of $145,788 (3.67%) over the prior year. "The overall budget is up $145,788, representing a 3.67% increase over the 2025 budget," Hughes said.

Hughes told the committee the ambulance line was separated from the fire department into its own budget so the town can better reflect ambulance costs; the proposed ambulance budget is $406,936. She also flagged a large increase in the Ashland Electric Department budget — roughly $616,967 — mainly attributable to higher power-purchase costs (about $594,250) and additional insurance and personnel costs.

The committee considered and voted on multiple warrant articles. Article 6, a $500,000 bond to identify, engineer and replace water-system services needed to comply with the federal lead-and-copper rule, was introduced (the committee recorded a motion and later recorded the article as passing by voice vote). Hughes said roughly two-thirds of the bond costs are expected to be forgiven by the state once work is complete.

Article 7, the town operating budget (total cited as $4,117,706 in the warrant), drew discussion about a $500 discrepancy in a line-item adjustment; the committee clarified the change and approved the article by recorded vote (5–1, with one member opposed). The committee took up utility operating budgets (Articles 8–10) and an employee-union cost item (Article 11). The electric department increase was noted as largely due to the power-purchase cost; the utility articles were approved by voice vote.

The committee also advanced a series of capital reserve and petition warrant articles, including funding for the police-station capital reserve fund to study or acquire a new or retrofitted facility (Article 21), a $100,000 appropriation for preliminary waterfront redevelopment planning that relies on a $50,000 grant match (Article 22), and a $25,000 library capital reserve petition (Article 24). Alice Staples, a library trustee, said the library has raised roughly $664,000 toward a $1.4 million renovation goal and urged support for building funding; "We are about at 664,000 roughly, in our funds for the new renovated library," Staples said.

The committee heard and recommended multiple petition articles funding local nonprofits (senior services, hospice, mental health, domestic-violence shelter, and CAP Action Program). The committee also approved $1,250 for Transportation Central (Article 30) to provide medical transport for qualifying residents; Andy, speaking to eligibility, said the service is available to Medicare/Medicaid recipients 60 and older and recalled using the service himself for a hospital trip.

After considering all warrant articles and recordings of motions and voice votes, the committee closed the public hearing on warrant articles at 07:14 and adjourned the budget meeting.