WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Prudential Committee on Wednesday took a first look at a draft fiscal year 2026 budget that would increase the operating budget by 27 percent from the year that ends on June 30.

 

Fire District Treasurer Billie Jo Sawyer walked the committee through a spending plan that it will review in April before sending to the annual district meeting in May.

 

The FY25 operating budget of $542,901 represented a 3.5 percent increase over the prior year.

 

The budget the committee looked at on Wednesday would raise the bottom line to $686,991.

 

Several of the line items would see sizable percentage jumps if the committee goes forward with the plan on the table.

 

The education and training budget, for example, is slated to go from $15,000 in FY25 to $23,000 next year, a hike of 53 percent, in anticipation of sending a firefighter out for Firefighter 1 and 2 certification.

 

The insurance line item, which was $80,500 last year, is up by 20 percent to $96,687.

 

Sawyer penciled in $15,000 for legal services, a 33 percent increase from the current fiscal year, in anticipation of additional costs related to the sale of the district's current fire station on Water Street after the new fire station is christened at the end of 2025.

 

The maintenance and operation line — $70,000 this year — is up to $103,000 to take into account planned maintenance costs associated with the upkeep of the new station and its property.

 

And the pay of firefighters line is up from $57,210 to $90,000, a rise of 57 percent.

 

"We're doing more medical calls," Sawyer said. "The uptick is largely related to that."

 

Later in the meeting, Fire Chief Craig Pedercini commented that of 32 calls for service in February, 12 were medical assist calls, a percentage that has been rising. And the department's total calls from Jan. 1 through Wednesday were 92.

 

"That's a pretty good number," Pedercini said.

 

Sawyer also is proposing that the Prudential Committee ask voters to approve a significantly higher contribution to the district's stabilization fund, which the district traditionally has used for large purchases, like fire apparatuses.

 

"We did do a schedule [for replacement of vehicles]," she told the committee. "We'd need way, way more to make the schedule work, but it's budgeted for $200,000 currently."

 

The last two years, the district has raised through taxation $80,000 each year to add to the stabilization account.

 

The Fire District, a separate taxing authority apart from town government, is overseen by the Prudential Committee, and its budget is approved at an annual district meeting, held at around the same time as the annual town meeting, where town and school budgets are approved.

 

The higher operation costs projected for FY26 come as the district also is preparing to start making debt payments for the new station. Voters approved that $22.5 million project in 2023.

 

The building project was in the news recently for a minor setback when wind damaged the wooden trusses installed to support the roof of the two-story building. But on Wednesday, the district's building consultant reconfirmed what he said just after the incident: the general contractor has been able to rearrange the schedule to recover any time lost in the incident.

 

"Sixty-plus yards of concrete for the second floor is being poured [Thursday]," Bruce Decoteau told the committee. "We anticipate the trusses will be back, from today, probably two weeks out.

 

"Given what we were dealt, we're in good shape. The budget still looks good. The schedule is good. Quality is good. Those are the three important things."

 

Aside from noting the continued rise in medical calls for the fire service, Pedercini's report was relatively routine, except for the fact that it was his final monthly report to the committee ahead of his retirement on Monday.

 

"On behalf of the Prudential Committee, I'd like to thank you for many years of fine reports and participation with us in our meetings," Chair David Moresi said.

 

"Twenty-two years," Pedercini said. "I can't tell you how fast it went by. It seemed like yesterday Ed McGowan was retired and we were doing this. And where does the time go?"

 

The committee concluded Wednesday's meeting by going into executive session to discuss contract negotiations with the man it picked to be the department's next chief, Onset's Jeffrey Dias.