Franklin Matters: Town of Franklin - FY 2026 Budget: Summary of anticipated FY26 Increases

Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Town of Franklin - FY 2026 Budget: Summary of anticipated FY26 Increases

The following is a summary of anticipated cost increases to taxpayers and/or ratepayers in FY26.

Tri-County School Building Project Update

Staﬀ have revised and reduced the Tri-County excluded debt excluding tax by $334,445 from the previous budget model. The average resident will see an increase in property taxes to pay for the new school building. The Town’s assessment to the budget is slightly lowered due to the MSBA reimbursement amount increasing, revised borrowing amounts and an interest rate under 4%. Questions regarding this project are here: https://www.tri-countybuilding.com/

The Tri-County project does not have an impact on the FY26 town operating budget. The Tri-County project increases the tax levy for the amount of the borrowing by the school for the construction project and then the tax sunsets. We estimate that tax bills will increase $120 per household this year to pay for the debt exclusion that was approved by voters (81%/19%) in October of 2023.

Override & Baseline Proposition 2 ½ Estimates

A $3.867 million override would increase residents’ property tax bills and estimate $312 for FY26 above the annual baseline Proposition 2 ½ increase.

For reference, the baseline Proposition 2 ½ increase for FY25 was a $226 increase over FY24. [We have provided a historical chart below] As certiﬁed by the Board of Assessors, at its tax rate hearing this past November 2024, the Town Council and by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a home valued at $679,449, assessed at a tax rate of $11.62 per $1,000 of assessed valuation resulted in an average property tax increase in FY25 of $226 per household. An estimated combined increase for FY26 would be $536 per household.

Disclaimer: The FY26 tax rate is not set until November of 2024. The Board of Assessors will not have an actual dollar ﬁgure on the baseline Proposition 2 ½ ﬁgure until the tax rate is set. Projecting data on a tax rate process in eight months is not advantageous. Staﬀ use FY25 to illustrate the tax impact on families and households to oﬀer a more accurate projection of their property tax increases with an override. Our numbers are for the median household in town and will vary depending upon assessed home value and the data sets used to calculate.

Residents are also encouraged to use the Department of Revenue override calculator.

Property Taxes have increased at a high rate due to the rapidly increasing valuation of property in Franklin (and Massachusetts as a whole), notably since the pandemic. Franklin is a community that has signiﬁcantly increased in demand and median income over the last decade.

Enterprise Fund increases to Ratepayers

The following aﬀects those on public water, sewer and/or curbside trash/recycling pickup and would not apply if you are on private well, septic or have private trash service:

● Trash rates are stable and we do not anticipate the need for an increase this ﬁscal year.

● Water rates will increase in FY26 by 8% for federal and state mandated PFAS compliance and water main replacements. The average homeowner will see an approximate increase of $35 annually based on their current usage amounts. There will be another rate increase of 8% in FY27. Both of these increases are based on authorization approved in 2023, mostly due to unfunded federal and state mandates.

● Sewer Rates will increase in FY26 by 13% speciﬁcally to pay for the Beaver Street Interceptor project, replacing the 109-year old sewer pipe for 70% of the town’s sewerage. The average homeowner will see an annual increase of approximately $62 based on current usage amounts. This is the last year of this increase which is based on authorization approved in 2023.

Citizen Discounts

Attached is a ﬂyer that speaks to the various citizen discounts residents who qualify can take advantage of in order to reduce costs. Savings from the Community Assistance Program include a 50% discount on water, sewer, and stormwater bills as well as abatements through the Board to residential property tax bills through a statewide abatement program. The Franklin Senior Center also has social workers on staﬀ who can help direct individuals to resources.

A Menu of Possible FY26 Operating Budget Reductions

The list below is a ﬁrst draft of potential cuts. These are a menu of sample cuts. The amount below is higher than the deﬁcit to illustrate the most likely cuts and changes that would have to occur. The list below totals $4,255,282.