Last summer, in response to a Sandisfield Planning Board survey, a majority of respondents said "yes" to the idea of full-time emergency services for the Town even if it meant raising their property taxes.

"Sixty-five percent of the respondents said 'yes,'" reported the Planning Board chairman at an information meeting in September. The 126 respondents consisted of about 100 two-person households and 26 or so singles, representing possibly 225 voters.

That support for expanded services will be put to the test at the Annual Town Meeting coming next month when voters will be asked to pass the FY2027 budget, which includes significant increases driven in large part by the Town 's expanded Fire and EMT services.

Select Board Chairman Steve Seddon points out that last year's property tax bill for most homeowners was about what it was in 2019, thanks to several years of conservative budgeting. This year he acknowledges will be a little different.

If the answers to the budget proposals are "yes," homeowners could see an increase in property taxes of not quite eight percent, driven primarily by the cost of the EMS per-diem full-time staffing program.

The Select Board and Town Manager have worked overtime to keep the increase out of what they refer to as "no-man's land" - which is a tax levy increase of 10 percent or more. An increase of that magnitude might see a tax revolt with residents voting down the entire budget, sending the Town leaders back to the drawing board.

A few nervous moments during the long budget planning process revealed the stunning possibility of a tax levy increase of between 10 and 20 percent. Those numbers caused many expensive "asks" by department heads to receive answers of "no" or "next year, maybe."

Number-wise, the draft budget for FY27 is $3,503,095, about a quarter of a million dollars over what it was for FY26.

The Select Board was scheduled to review the budget draft with the /Finance Committee at a meeting March 30. The outcome of that meeting will have occurred too late to be included in this month's Times.

Last year/this year

Last year, the Town had about a million dollars in free cash. That money could have been used to defray the bump in this year's tax levy. However, most of that cash has been or will be spent on the eminent domain purchase of Firehouse #2 and its much-needed renovation.

The Sandisfield Fire Department, Inc. (SFDI) had claimed ownership of the Town's fire stations despite SFDI having been set up as a nonprofit to support the department.[MK1.1] Contributing to that belief was a series of acquiescent, although often resistant, select boards which voted that the Town needed to pay a yearly rent for the use of the buildings.

The end result was that the Town faced serious expenses when it acquired the firehouse, including: the purchase price of $299,000; replacement of the septic system; furnace repair; new equipment to replace out-of-date uniforms; deferred maintenance; per diem costs for firemen and EMTs to replace the volunteers who resigned rather than serve under yet another new fire chief. Other expenses will include improvements to meet OSHA requirements.

One bright spot in the budget is that the Town no longer faces the $11,000 yearly rental to FSDI for the two firehouses. While that may seem a drop in the bucket, drops add up.

The Town's Draft FY27 budget can be reviewed online at FY27DRAFTBudget/sandisfieldma.gov.