Town officials laid out the Town of Hubbardston’s proposed fiscal 2026 budget and related warrant articles at a public hearing April 20, with the town administrator calling the meeting the first of two hearings before the Select Board finalizes the warrant.

Town Administrator Nate Boudreaux led the presentation and said the operating budget proposed for fiscal 2026 totals $11,805,534, an increase of about 5.8 percent over FY25. He said projected revenues for FY26 total $11,640,996, leaving what he described as a structural gap the town plans to cover in part with one-time resources: “This is a balanced approach to service delivery and fiscal sustainability,” Boudreaux said, and later explained the town proposes using $99,539 of free cash for one-time items and reclassifying several prior one-time allocations to avoid recurring uses of free cash.

Why it matters: the operating budget and warrant determine local tax levies, school assessments, capital projects and spending limits for permit/revolving accounts. Officials said most of the town’s operating cost increase is driven by fixed costs and the school assessment, and the warrant contains both routine administrative votes and several substantive capital and policy proposals that will return for more detailed hearings.

Key budget details and proposed uses of one-time funds
- Operating budget: $11,805,534 (FY26 proposed).
- Revenue estimate: $11,640,996 (FY26 projected). Boudreaux said the gap between revenues and the proposed budget reflects long-running structural pressure on municipal budgets, notably school costs.
- Free cash and one-time reclassification: about $99,539 proposed from free cash to cover one-time fixes and bridge items; Boudreaux said $65,000 originally budgeted for a boiler project was freed when that project received grant funding. He described the free-cash use as a bridge item and said the town intends to reduce reliance on free cash over time.
- Specific reclassifications described during the hearing included $30,000 toward one-time operating expenses, $15,000 to fund an overnight stipend program for on-call firefighters, $20,000 for a one-time part-time town planner position, and $20,000 for annual e-permitting and cybersecurity costs tied to the HUB Connect project.

School and regional assessments
- Quabbin Regional School District: the article for the town’s FY26 share was presented at $6,788,846. Boudreaux thanked the district and liaisons for budget cooperation and noted the school share remains the largest single item in the operating budget.
- The Mont(a)Tech vocational assessment was listed at $396,826 for FY26 (assessment from the regional vocational technical district). The administrator said the assessment increase is driven by enrollment and operating costs.

Revolving funds and spending limits
Boudreaux explained a consent-agenda block of routine articles that set spending caps on revolving funds used for items such as open burn permits, septic inspections and special events. He told the meeting the high caps on some revolving accounts are meant to avoid repeated adjustments when a year brings unusual activity (for example an unusually large number of septic permits). He also clarified that the spending limits are caps on expenditures, not automatic appropriations.

Public works and capital requests
Public works director Lewis Travis (Travis) reviewed the highway/DPW budget, which the administrator described as rising about 7.8 percent overall and showing a highway DPW line of roughly $678,000. Travis said the department remains five years behind historically in road work funding and flagged new permitting requirements and costs tied to culvert work as emerging pressures. Boudreaux and Travis discussed Chapter 90 state aid, which they said could roughly double if the state budget holds that provision.

Capital requests that were described but not finalized at the hearing included:
- A capital package proposed at $135,000 from free cash (plus other offsets): annual road improvement funding, a pickup truck for the fire department, and smaller capital items. The proposal also identified $30,000 from the Holden Hospital fund toward the fire pickup.
- A $600,000 borrowing authorization for a replacement fire apparatus was on the warrant. Select Board members and the administrator noted there had been multiple discussions about vehicle specifications; the board asked that the fire chief attend the next hearing so members could review the chief’s recommendation and the spec sheet that is in the public drive. Boudreaux said the spec sheet and a comparable vehicle in another town are available for review.
- DPW equipment: the warrant included $200,000 for a used plow truck (the board discussed an Oshkosh unit as a durable option) and $220,000 for a new brush mower. Board members discussed purchase vs. lease economics and noted operating and emissions costs for newer designs.

Landfill testing and environmental compliance
Article 12 asked to appropriate $6,130 from free cash for mandated landfill testing and minimal mowing at the capped New Templeton Road landfill. Boudreaux and Board members noted the town has performed biannual testing for decades and that the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the permitting authority; they said the town will apply to reduce testing frequency if state rules and historical results allow it. The Board asked the treasurer/collector to attend the next meeting to explain the accounting and fund history tied to this line item.

PEG access relocation and meeting room proposal
The warrant included $45,000 from PEG access funds to relocate PEG broadcast equipment and construct a dedicated meeting/broadcast room at 48 Gardner Road (the town’s recently acquired property). Boudreaux described the lion’s share of the $10,000 relocation cost as the expense of connecting the facility to the street; he said future moves inside the building should cost far less.

Process notes from the hearing
- Boudreaux emphasized that the April 20 meeting was a first public hearing and that further line-item review will take place at subsequent meetings (May 5 and a senior-focused hearing). He urged residents to use the town’s online budget portal for details.
- Board members asked department heads and staff to provide more granular reports and to return with additional documentation for items that need further review, including the landfill testing history and fire apparatus specifications.

Votes at a glance (actions recorded during the meeting)
- Consent agenda/minutes: the board voted to approve the consent agenda (April 20 meeting handling) and then separately approved the April 7 minutes (one abstention noted). Outcome: approved.
- Police chief contract: the Select Board voted to accept and sign an FY26–28 employment contract with the chief of police, Ryan Kucher. Outcome: approved.
- FY26 nonunion pay plan (wage and classification plan): the board voted to adopt the FY26 nonunion pay/classification plan as presented; Boudreaux said the plan aligns with the proposed FY26 budget. Outcome: approved.
- Town hall hours: the board voted to change the weekly “long day” from Monday to Tuesday effective July 1 to reduce holiday conflicts and improve public access. Outcome: approved.

What’s next
Several warrant articles described at the hearing will return for the Select Board’s May 5 meeting and for a senior-centered hearing later in May. The Select Board asked that the fire chief attend the next hearing to discuss apparatus specifications, and asked the treasurer/collector to explain the accounting for the landfill testing line. The administrator said the warrant will be finalized following the second public hearing.

Quotes (selected)
“The annual town meeting is where the residents of Hubbardston go to make decisions that are both financial and policy driven,” Nate Boudreaux said as he opened the presentation of the warrant.
“This is a bridge gap,” Boudreaux said of the free-cash use explained in the budget presentation, describing the proposal as a limited, one-time approach to balance the budget while reducing future reliance on free cash.
“We are going to be able to do it. But things are getting more and more expensive as we go,” Travis said when describing road needs and state permitting impacts.

Ending
The Select Board continued the public hearing process rather than voting the majority of warrant articles at the April 20 session. Board members requested additional detail from department heads and financial staff on several items — notably the fire apparatus specification, the landfill testing accounting, and capital plan allocations — and scheduled follow-up hearings. The board approved several administrative and personnel items during the meeting; all remaining warrant decisions will be resolved in subsequent hearings and at the town’s annual meeting.