For the second year in a row, the Greenfield Select Board hosted a public informational meeting about the town budget prior to the formal budget hearing, which is tentatively scheduled Feb. 4.

The board scheduled the meeting to elicit feedback and suggestions from residents before formally proposing the budget.

“The budget is not final; we’re always looking for areas where we can tweak it and make changes,” said Select Board Chair Tom Bascom. “We are very happy to get feedback from folks.”

About 20 people, including many of Greenfield’s department and committee heads, attended the meeting Wednesday night in the Town Offices.

Bascom stressed that only about one-third of the town’s total tax burden is within the control of the Select Board, with the remainder determined by the assessment from the ConVal School District, the state and the county.

Bascom also noted the town can’t predict or control any state funding that might become available.

“We always make a conservative projection, because we never know from year to year what the state will provide, what grants might be available, what might come through,” Bascom said.

The Select Board has proposed a total budget of $3,793,477 for 2026, which is a 2.5% increase over last year’s budget of $3,471,544.57.

“We try to keep the budget increase the same as the rate of inflation,” he said.

Increases in this year’s budget included rising costs, estimated at about $146,000, for the shared ambulance service with Wilton and Lyndeborough. The service has requested additional funds to purchase equipment and for the salary of another full-time person. The select boards from Wilton and Lyndeborough met last week to finalize the budget requests.

Janice Pack, speaking on behalf of Wilton Ambulance, said that new equipment requested by the service includes power lift stretchers and pediatric rescue equipment, and that the service would “definitely” be purchasing a new ambulance (see “Wilton, Lyndeborough and Greenfield ambulance service looks to upgrade equipment,” in the Thursday, Jan. 9 edition).

“If all three towns do not approve all the requests, we will go back to the drawing board with some things,” Pack said.

Select Board member Mike Borden, who is a captain in the Fire Department, and Police Chief Frank Shea confirmed that both the Fire and Police Departments are “very happy” with the service provided by Wilton Ambulance.

Bascom praised DPW director Jim Morris for “keeping his budget flat” and reducing costs in some areas since last year, and noted that the town was able to use capital reserve funds to buy a new plow truck, which will result in a savings of about $70,000.

Speaking on behalf of the Police Department budget, Shea said the department was very grateful to be able to retain Officer Mike Eneguess, who has received an offer from another department.

“It is cheaper for the town to retain a good officer by paying them more, and Mike is a very good officer,” Shea said.

Fire Department budget items included new equipment and training. The department switched to Milford Dispatch this year, which Bascom said was better coverage for less money.

In discussion about the costs of town-owned buildings, Town Administrator Aaron Patt said the new heating equipment in the Meetinghouse, which includes heat pumps, may lower the building’s utility costs this year, while operation of the new elevator may raise electric costs.

“We don’t know the baseline for heating costs in the Meetinghouse yet,” he said.

Town to propose new capital reserve funds

The town will be proposing warrant articles to start two new capital reserve funds for infrastructure, including bridges and paving.

“The Schoolhouse Road bridge has been on the red list for a while, and we are looking to replace that in 2028,” Bascom said. “We have a few others, like Cavender Road, that may need replacing. We could never afford to replace any of our bridges out of the blue, and the state requires matching funds.”

Bascom said that in looking at the cost of paving roads in different sections, the board and the DPW determined that paving roads “all at once” is more efficient and financially viable.

“In talking to residents about paving projects, we found that some neighborhoods don’t want their roads paved, so we listened,” Bascom said.

He also said the board has determined the Capital Reserve Fund for the Recycling Center needs to be increased.

“If we lost a bailer (for cardboard) or something we would not have the money to replace it,” Bascom said.