Milford Capital Subcommittee Hears Cemetery and Highway Requests, Approves Nothing

Capital Planning · Meeting of March 11, 2026

Milford's Capital Planning Subcommittee heard cemetery and highway wish lists totaling well over $1 million but approved nothing, citing a constrained $175,000 capital budget. The cemetery department requested a John Deere tractor (~$27,000-$28,000), a snowblower attachment (~$5,000), and a replacement faucet-and-water system (~$20,000) for fiscal year 2027, along with a future steel storage building estimated at $100,000 to $150,000 and a $500,000 land acquisition placeholder for around fiscal year 2030. The highway department's top ask was a $250,000 radio system upgrade to replace a low-band network for which parts are no longer available, followed by a replacement dump truck (~$199,000), a radiant garage heater (~$200,000), and a salt brine pre-treatment system ($150,000-$175,000).

The committee chair warned that $150,000 of the existing capital budget is already spoken for by a second-phase HVAC contract with a vendor identified as Stacey, and cautioned that free cash, long used to supplement capital, may not be available given state budget pressures. The highway official also described an unsolicited offer for two free 10,000-gallon solar-powered fuel tanks in exchange for a five-cent-per-gallon fee, which the subcommittee asked to see in writing before any further consideration.

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Source: the Capital Planning meeting of March 11, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.