In compliance with Article Six, Sections 6-3-1 through 6-5-2 of the Franklin Town Charter, I am submitting the proposed FY26 Budget Message & Budget to the Town Council and Finance Committee.
I am presenting a balanced budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26), which assumes an approved override amount of $3,862,672 as approved and placed on the ballot by the Town Council on March 19, 2025. Without the approval of an override by the registered voters of Franklin at the special election on June 3, 2025 the Town will have to produce $3,862,672 in revenue to continue level service or reduce budget line items.
Beginning in September of 2024, the Joint Budget Subcommittee, which consists of members from the Finance Committee, Town Council and School Committee, and town and school staff held monthly meetings to walk the entire community through the annual budget process. The JBSC held six townwide listening sessions in different areas of town and at different times of day to give the entire community and every stakeholder an opportunity to ask questions, share opinions and engage in the budget process. Please visit the FY26 Budget page for all materials related to the FY26 budget process.
The Executive Summary explains the budget process, highlights, assumptions, and provides some general overview statistics and trends. Detailed department budget narratives that speak to the mission of and strategic initiatives within each department are included in Section 2 of this document, and detailed budget line item numbers are located in Appendix A.
The budget process is a year round exercise, occurring throughout the entire fiscal year (July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025). Town staff continuously update the budget model as new information becomes available. A budget review typically occurs every November prior to setting the annual tax rate. Residents are encouraged to sign up for Town Council agendas and legal notices here, which disclose the most up to date budget related actions and discussions in town. Residents who seek to take a deeper dive into departmental or project specific finances can review the Franklin Finance Committee meetings. The Finance Committee meets regularly to discuss and debate townwide financial information at length. Please visit the Town Budget page on the Town website for the latest FY26 budget information. All budget meetings can be viewed on the Town’s YouTube channel, live and in archive, and on Franklin TV.
The Town of Franklin continues to perform at a very high level and is widely regarded as a leader across Massachusetts for our innovative and collaborative approach to both town and school management. The entire municipal government consists of a proficient, creative, dynamic and professional team that performs at an exemplary level. The Town and School Departments provide exceptional services to residents at a very good value. I encourage Franklin residents to reflect on their own success: high graduation rates and college readiness, incredible school athletic achievements, superior special education services, vibrant extracurricular activities, and more:
● Franklin Public Schools had a 100% graduation rate in 2024.
● Franklin Public Schools is the 53rd best ranked High School in Greater Boston, which also happens to be the best public school system in the United States. Of High Schools with greater than 1,500 students, Franklin is the 12th highest performing High School in Massachusetts, just behind Arlington and Andover.
● Franklin Public Schools won the Dalton Award five years in a row, between 2018 to 2023, indicating the highest sports team winning percentage in the state with teams winning national and state championships; most recently Basketball and Cheerleading, as well as many students receiving elite college scholarships. Numerous youth sports teams also win championships and compete at a very high level.
● Franklin Public Schools has award winning team and individual academics, arts, and music achievements.
● Franklin Fire is rated a ISO-1 - the best possible rating a Fire Department can receive. Franklin Fire is one of only 9 communities in Massachusetts with this rating; one of 15 in New England and one of 450 out of 45,000 Fire Departments in the United States. The Franklin DPW qualifies as 40% of the requirements for this status because they also are first responders in town!
● The Franklin PD is exceeding national standards for law enforcement, having received full accreditation of 327 Best Practice Standards of Excellence.
● Both Franklin Fire and Franklin Police are operating at staffing levels that are the highest and most secure that they have ever been. While call volume trends continue to rise at record-breaking levels, any further reductions in staff will unquestionably hurt response times and the overall quality of public safety in Franklin.
● Franklin is a AAA Bond Rated community - the highest possible credit rating the Town can receive. We are in the top 25% of Massachusetts in this category, as approximately 80 communities are AAA rated. The Town has received a AAA Bond Rating twice and will be evaluated again this spring with the purchase of a fire truck. This favorable rating allows the Town to borrow at a lower rate, saving the Town as well as residents and taxpayers significant money over time.
● Franklin has received exemplary financial audits that have improved every year without recommendations for improvement for both Town and School Departments.
● The Department of Public Works (DPW) continues to be a regional leader in rebuilding the Town’s infrastructure, including the largest public works project in history over the next three years, the Beaver Street Interceptor. The project, which will replace a 109 year old system for 75% of the town’s raw sewage, is currently on time and under budget moving into one of the largest phases of the project.
● First class arts, cultural, and community resources through various departments, including Franklin Recreation, Senior Center, Public Library, Historical Museum, Public Schools, Veterans’ Services, Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, as well as various public-private partnerships relating to arts, culture, and economic development. The staff of these departments are innovative and service some of the community's highest need residents with incredible programs and compassion.
● Public access to walking, biking and hiking trails, open space and high quality, modern town and school facilities, including sports and recreation fields is abundant. The Town purchased over 200 acres of open space in the last three years, including the recently proposed SNETT Trail expansion. Over the next five years the Town will be planning how to use this open space to meet the needs of the community for future generations to come.
● Franklin has maintained its status as a Green Community and is widely known as a leading community in sustainability.
● The Town also has a favorable business climate with 20% of the overall tax base paid for by the commercial business sector. In recent years we have seen record breaking local taxes in meals, hotels and cannabis, and the Town has more restaurants, with a significant amount of them locally owned, than we did before the pandemic.
● We are fortunate to have a progressive, knowledgeable, fair and talented Public Health, Building & Inspections, and Planning & Community Development staff whose aim is to create a safe, vibrant and thriving business environment in Franklin.
● Franklin boasts exceptional and professional administrative, finance and support staff throughout both the municipality and school district.
The Town of Franklin and the Franklin Public Schools are fortunate to have dedicated, hard working and compassionate staff from the bottom to the top of the organization! Despite the overwhelming amount of requests the Town receives for services, departmental operations have excelled throughout the past few years and have become even more efficient. As we continue to find innovative ways to do more with less, enough cannot be said for the commitment, passion, innovation, humility and teamwork of the staff. The overall achievements of this organization have been tremendous, and we should all be thankful and appreciative of what this team has achieved and the role the municipal and school staff play in strengthening the community. The future of the organization remains as bright as ever, and the quality of life in Franklin is as exceptional as it has ever been.
As I have documented in prior Fiscal Forecasts and Budget Narratives, while services in FY26 will remain highly effective, inflation has now settled into the local budget.
Sections of the Summary will continue to be shared in advance of the Finance Committee budget hearings scheduled for April 28, April 29, and May 1.
