Marshfield is heading toward another difficult budget season, with preliminary projections showing a $2.76 million shortfall for fiscal 2028 even if town and school spending increases are held to 2.5%.
Town Administrator Ted Langill presented the early five-year forecast during a Sept. 28 joint meeting of the Select Board and School Committee, giving officials their first broad look at the town's financial position for next year. The meeting was informational, and no budget decisions or votes were made.
The $2.76 million gap assumes a 2.5% increase in both the school budget and town department budgets. Langill cautioned that even those assumptions may not be enough to maintain existing services once departments submit their actual requests.
"So that would be more cuts for sure in both of those cases, both the schools and the town budgets," Langill said. "And again, even with a 2.5% increase on both sides, we're still looking at a 2.76 deficit for FY 28."
The preliminary forecast assumes 8% annual growth in health care costs and 9% in pension costs, two of the larger fixed expenses competing with town and school departments for available revenue. Langill said each percentage point of growth costs the town more than $93,000 for health care and more than $100,000 for pensions.
South Shore Regional Vocational Technical School is another growing expense. Marshfield's student assessment is projected to increase 39% in FY28 as enrollment rises by about 30 students per year. The town is also projected to pay $856,000 in FY28 toward debt service for the vocational school's new building, an expense Langill said currently has to be absorbed within the operating budget.
The pressure extends to Marshfield Public Schools, where officials said maintaining the services currently offered after recent cuts would require a 5.39% budget increase, substantially more than the 2.5% used in the town's preliminary forecast.
School Committee Chair Sean Costello said the district is already operating after a $2.4 million budget reduction, while school officials said 95 full-time-equivalent positions have been eliminated over three years. School officials said restoring the services and positions they identified as most necessary from previous reductions would require another 4.3%, bringing the total increase to about 9.7%.
"We're just letting you know that we're feeling it too in Marshfield Public Schools," Costello said. "And right now, unfortunately, you could have made a case last year that we were pretty bare bones for what we were providing in Marshfield Public Schools."
Officials are also examining whether additional revenue could narrow the gap.
Langill said the town will conduct a line-by-line review of local receipts, which are budgeted at $11.95 million in FY27. That process will include reviewing fees that may not have been adjusted recently to determine whether they are adequately covering the cost of providing services.
Ambulance fees, which currently generate about $2 million annually, are among those being reviewed. Langill said he has received comparisons with other communities and expects fee discussions to continue as part of the budget process. Select Board Chair Rick Smith also said the board expects to examine other fees, including parking.
Potential new solar revenue is not included in the $2.76 million shortfall. Langill said he was still reviewing the agreement and payment schedule but indicated the revenue could have a significant effect on the town's local receipts.
The numbers presented Sept. 28 remain preliminary. Langill said he expects to have department budget requests by the end of October and more information about solar revenue, with another projection potentially coming in November.
The joint meeting was the first of its kind between the Select Board and School Committee, according to Smith, and followed a new memorandum of understanding between the two boards intended to improve financial forecasting, information sharing and budget planning.