Southbridge Subcommittee Forwards $6.27 Million in FY 2027 Public Safety Budgets

SOUTHBRIDGE — May 7, 2026 — Southbridge's public safety subcommittee advanced $6.27 million in FY 2027 budgets and approved eleven mid-year transfers Thursday. The Joint Protections of Persons and Properties Subcommittee unanimously forwarded a $270,675 Inspection Services budget, a $5,228,300 Police Department budget, and a $776,535 Dispatch budget — the first time dispatch has carried a standalone budget line, separated from the police department after years of requests from the police chief. The chief told councilors that dispatcher costs had previously run roughly $620,000 embedded in the police budget, with the new collective bargaining agreement adding approximately $100,000. Eleven salary-reserve transfers totaling roughly $326,000 were also recommended to the full Town Council, covering collective-bargaining obligations, a $35,000 building-repair need tied to HVAC failures, elevator repairs, and state-mandated prisoner-cell fixes in the 30-year-old station, as well as $1,000 in emergency veterinary costs after the department's patrol canine required surgery. The police budget's data-processing line rose from $70,000 to $85,000, driven by fee increases across five required software platforms including the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission's mandatory PowerDMS system and the state's Criminal Justice Information System.