Francestown voters will vote on whether or not to fund improvements to the town’s baseball fields, new turnout gear for the fire department, and the purchase of groundskeeping equipment, and whether to support capital reserve funds at Town Meeting on March 14.
The town’s total proposed operating budget for 2026 is $2,527,417, up from $2.3 million in 2025, or an increase of 8.07%.
Voters will also have another chance to vote for or against a proposal to withdraw Francestown Elementary School from the ConVal School District.
The town’s efforts to withdraw from ConVal failed by a narrow margin in 2025. While 81% of Francestown voters supported the proposal, only 38% of the voters in ConVal’s eight other towns supported the article, which failed to reach the 40% threshold required for the article to pass according to state law.
The Francestown School Committee, an official town committee, has stated that the town’s goal is to keep Francestown Elementary School open. The proposal for withdrawal, Article 18 on this year’s warrant, is a result of ConVal’s attempt to move toward consolidation of the district’s elementary schools in 2023, which could have closed FES and sent Francestown students to schools in neighboring ConVal towns.
The ConVal School Board has stated that if Francestown leaves the district, costs will go up for the remaining eight towns and has expressed doubts about the town being able to provide adequate services for students within the projected costs provided by the FSC.
Town Administrator Jamie Pike said that increases in third-party services, changes in town personnel, and hikes in benefit costs and statutory contributions are major drivers of the town’s budget increases this year.
“We have some challenging roads ahead of us in trying to pay for those services needed by the town which we can’t bring in-house, and balancing those needs with the services we currently provide, which we don’t want to cut,” Pike said.
Other increases include costs of information technology, ambulance services, and fire dispatch. The town’s health insurance premiums are up $17,000 from last year.
New hires for 2026 include a police chief, new police officers, and a new full-time employee at the DPW.
Budget Committee member Stewart Brock said that in previous years, Francestown was “not competitive” in its ability to attract and retain town employees, including police.
“When we looked at the towns we are competing with, we were not competitive. We were going to lose people because all five of the towns around us could offer people more. What we offer is driven by the marketplace,” Brock said.
Select Board Chair Charlie Pyle said that the town had tried to hire full-time and part-time police officers in 2025, but the positions were never filled.
“The competition we feel to hire people, and retain them, is significant. The budget committee did a very extensive analysis. They looked at what our employees wanted, and what was competitive for wages in the area, and some of those changes were proposed, and they were approved at last year’s town meeting,” Pyle said. “We have never had 120 hours in police coverage as long as I have been here.”
The town has proposed increasing police coverage to 120 hours a week, with 80 hours full-time and 40 hours part-time. Pyle said that while Francestown has not had a notable increase in crime, the town has had increasing complaints from residents about speeding.
Pike reported good news at the transfer station, where cardboard and aluminum can programs are bringing in steady revenue.
“We have been able to save on fuel and have reduced waste disposal costs,” Pike said.
Warrant Article 11 proposes the town purchase groundskeeping equipment in order to bring landscaping services for the town’s playing fields, the Meeting House and Town Hall lawns, and the town’s three cemeteries in-house.
Select Board member Scott Heath said the town is looking to improve the quality of maintenance as well as save money.
“What’s driving this decision is that we are paying top dollar for contractors to take care of town facilities, and they’re not getting it done,” Heath said. “Bringing groundskeeping in-house will save a lot of money. We got only one bid when we put it out to bid. No one even wants to bid on the job, so we are kind of in between a rock and a hard place with this.”
Article 14 proposes that the town spend $15,000 to upgrade the town’s ball fields. Pyle said that currently, the fields are mostly maintained by volunteers and need significant upgrades.
Budget Committee member Stewart Brock urged all Francestown residents with feedback or concerns about the budget to attend Budget Committee meetings throughout the year or consider joining the Budget Committee.