WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Prudential Committee last week reviewed a draft annual fire district meeting warrant that includes an operational expenses budget up 9.4 percent from the figures approved at the May 2025 annual meeting.

 

And, with a new line item added to the district's operational budget the total increase is closer to 24 percent.

 

Last May, meeting members — the meeting is open to all registered voters in town — approved an FY26 spending plan that totaled $686,991.

 

On July 1, the first day of the fiscal year, a special district meeting voted to allocate $40,000 from the district's stabilization fund to the operating budget, effectively raising the baseline to $726,991, a 34 percent increase, year over year, from FY25 to FY26.

 

The July 1 meeting moved $20,000 of stabilization funds to the firefighter pay line and $20,000 to the maintenance and operation line — nearly doubling the former and raising the latter by 75 percent from FY25 to FY26.

 

Both those lines are up again in the planned FY27 budget, but more modestly: 2 percent for M&O (up from $123,000 to $125,500) and 27 percent for firefighter payroll ($110,000 to $139,900).

 

Most of the other line items net out to no significant change; some are up a little, some are down a little.

 

But the FY27 spending plan presented to the Prudential Committee at its March 25 meeting also includes a new line in the operations budget, a $100,000 line item labeled "new fire station contingency."

 

All told, the maintenance and operation budget presented this month is $851,750, $164,759 more than approved on May 27, 2025, and $124,759 more than the actual FY26 maintenance and operation plan factoring in the $40,000 moved from stabilization in July.

 

The draft warrant for this May's annual meeting also includes a $68,000 increase in Article 9 (labeled Article 7 on last May's meeting notice). That article raises funds in the coming year for "replacing outdated or unserviceable fire department equipment," including personal protective equipment, self-contained breathing apparatus, radio equipment and hoses and nozzles.

 

Last year's Article 7 was for $12,000 for such equipment. This year's draft warrant seeks $80,000 in that area.

 

The increases in day-to-day costs of operating the town's fire service come at a time when property taxpayers still are adjusting to the cost of the new fire station on Main Street.

 

The construction cost started to hit the tax bill in earnest in the current fiscal year. The total tax levy for FY26 (which ends on June 30) rose by 90.4 percent from FY25, going from $987,000 to $1.9 million.

 

In FY27, the tab for construction will go up. Article 11 on the draft district meeting warrant asks for permission to raise and appropriate $1.7 million for principal and interest on the station building project.

 

The Fire Department moved into the new station this month, which creates the opportunity for another article to be placed before district voters in May. Article 6 on the 13-article draft warrant seeks permission to allow the Prudential Committee to sell the former fire station and property at 34 Water St.

 

In other business at the March 25 meeting, Chief Jeffrey Dias told the Prudential Committee that the move to the new station went well and the firefighters responded to the first call from their new headquarters on March 24.

 

Prudential Committee Chair David Moresi asked Dias how things went pulling apparatus onto Main Street (Route 2).

 

"I wish there were traffic lights out there," Dias responded.

 

Moresi agreed, but both agreed that it could be difficult to get stoplights at the site.

 

"I think that's something we need to pursue," Moresi said. "I brought that up before they even broke ground on this project. … I really think we should look and see if there can be some kind of traffic control there, whether it's a flashing yellow or whatever. I know it's a state thing, so it's a little more complex.

 

"Pulling out, it can be a little hairy. People get flying."