Stoughton Finance Committee Opens FY27 Budget Hearings, Advances Three Capital Borrowing Articles

STOUGHTON -- March 5, 2026, Stoughton Finance Committee opens public hearings for May 4 town meetings, reviewing six department budgets and three major borrowing articles. The committee heard FY27 operating budget presentations from Economic Development Director Pam McCarthy (expenses up 1.49 percent), Town Planner Bill Roth (personal services up 1.75 percent, expenses level), and Development Services Director Mark Coulter, whose departments came in at a combined 2.78 percent increase against the town manager's 2.9 percent directive, slightly elevated by a contractual buyout for retiring Building Commissioner Jack Erickson. Water and Sewer Superintendent Keith reported the two enterprise funds together at a 0.442 percent combined increase, with sewer retained earnings at approximately $2.9 million and water at approximately $1.9 million. The committee received preliminary details on three borrowing articles: $2.4 million to extend Washington Street sewer and decommission the aging Sumner Ridge pump station (whose replacement alone was estimated at $2.5 million); $450,000 for sewer inflow-infiltration work and a replacement camera truck; and $7.46 million for rehabilitation of two water tanks, one built in 1926, and PFAS treatment upgrades at the Goddard well, with the Muddy Pond filtration plant described as 99 percent complete and expected online within 10 to 14 days. Finance Director Biz Zielinski noted the town currently carries $139 million in authorized unissued debt. All public hearings were continued unanimously to March 11.