Hubbardston Finance Committee Reviews 530-Line Zero-Based FY27 Budget, Schedules May 21 Follow-Up

HUBBARDSTON — May 14, 2026 — Hubbardston Finance Committee reviews a rebuilt zero-based FY27 budget as FY26 remains unreconciled. The committee, meeting Thursday with four members present, heard Town Administrator Sean outline a proposed FY27 budget that is up 4.7 percent over FY26 and contains more than 530 individual line items — compared with roughly 120 the prior year — after he built it from scratch following years of misaligned chart-of-accounts coding. The FY26 fiscal year remains unsettled: revenue has not been booked since December, no reconciliation report has been produced since March, and a free-cash appropriation of an undetermined amount is included in the upcoming town meeting warrant as a potential plug. A structural deficit of approximately $160,000 was inherited from FY26, including a debt service account that was underfunded by $60,000, with $210,000 spent against a $146,000 budget. The Quabbin Regional School District assessment increase dropped from 7.9 percent to 4.01 percent after advocacy from town officials, but the Town Administrator warned that the town sits approximately $2,000 from its tax levy ceiling with collective bargaining negotiations still ongoing. The committee scheduled a follow-up working session for May 21 at 6 p.m.