Town Facing Higher than Anticipated Health Insurance Rates

By Adam Swift

Town and school officials continue to focus on the budget process for Fiscal Year 2026 in advance of the school budget override vote on Saturday, April 5.

However, according to the town manager, higher than anticipated health insurance rates could further complicate the budget process.

There will be three financial questions on the ballot on April 5, when polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

One will be a $38.5 million Proposition 2-½ debt exclusion vote to fund a new fire station at the site of the old middle school on Pauline Street.

The two votes for the school budget include a $3.5 million Proposition 2-½ override to cover expected budget shortfalls for the FY26 school budget. The second school asks voters to consider a $1.4-million Proposition 2-½ override to fund a school stabilization account that would help fund future budget shortfalls.

School and town officials have stated that if the override fails at the ballot, both the town and schools face cuts to staff and services, as the town would shift some funds to cover a portion of the expected school shortfall.

In his report to the town council this week, Town Manager Tony Marino stated that department budgets have all come in for the FY26 budget season.

“I continue to work with the Finance team to balance the budget to accommodate increases in Health and Property Insurance along with COLA increases for union and non-union personnel,” stated Marino. “The Capital Plan is also being updated, and we continue to work with Town Council members on the Economic Development and Capital Assets Committee to update the plan to create an adaptive five-year capital plan for the FY26 Budget.”

Marino stated that the town has received the FY26 health insurance rates from its insurance provider and that the increase is higher than anticipated.

“The increases for the individual plans range from a high of 17% to a low of 7.5% on the retiree plans,” Marino stated. “We are updating our employee spreadsheet with the plan increases and anticipate that our blended increase over all the plans will be in the range of 13-15%.”

Marino stated that the town will know more next week after the report is updated.

“This increase is substantially higher than the 10% increase that we had last year,” stated Marino. “We continue to work on balancing the budget, however, this increase complicates matters for the Town and the School Department.”