Dighton Boards Open FY2027 Budget Review With Debt Exclusion Stakes Dominating

DIGHTON — March 3, 2026 — Dighton opens joint Select Board and Finance Committee budget season with every department presenting two budgets — one with a debt exclusion, one without. Town Administrator Ralph outlined fiscal year 2027 revenues including $587,000 from Proposition 2½ growth, $230,000 in new growth, and roughly $950,000 in free cash, while warning that the no-exclusion scenario requires a 1 percent cut to the general government budget and triggers formal force reductions. Bristol Agricultural School business manager Sam Stone reported Dighton's assessment will drop approximately $14,000 to roughly $349,000 for FY27 as enrollment falls from 35 to 33 students. The Fire Chief disclosed he exhausted apparatus repair accounts in December with four months left in the fiscal year, and that a 2019 command vehicle was totaled in a windstorm, leaving a 2006 truck with 180,000 miles as the department's backup unit. Town Treasurer-Collector Paul Reynolds reported that a Blue Cross health insurance renewal of 9.7 percent was negotiated down to 7.5 percent by drawing $1 million from the SMHG group trust, projecting the town's true health insurance spend at approximately $1.4 million to $1.5 million.