2026 town budget in good shape, draws no comments at hearing

By JEFF MORRIS 

The preliminary 2026 Bedford budget presented by Comptroller Brian Kenneally at a public hearing Nov. 18 was consistent with his earlier work session statements that there is a “very modest budget increase planned for next year.”

Total appropriations in the budget for 2026 are $47,598,369. Non-tax revenues are $17,564,106. Appropriated reserves are $850,000. The total tax levy is $29,184,263; the total 2026 tax levy limit is $31,494,500. The 2026 budget tax levy excess is $2,310,237.

In a breakdown of townwide funds, Personal Services is the single largest expense, at $14,863,704, or 39%, with Employee Benefits close behind at $12,003,414, or 31%. At the earlier meetings, Kenneally had described such personnel expenditures as “kind of like fixed costs in every municipality.”

Kenneally said although it’s a 150-page budget with 2,000 line items, the increases for 2026 are attributable to only a handful of major items. These increased costs are $400,000 toward the police retirement system, $200,000 for regular employee retirement funds, $600,000 in salaries, and $600,000 in debt service.

The bottom line, said Kenneally, is they will have a $1.8 million increase in appropriations for 2026. The question, he said, is how they will fund that increase, which is slightly over 2%. A 2% tax levy increase would yield $600,000 in revenue, he said, so “the question is, how do we fund the remaining $1.2 million?” He answered that by pointing to what he sees as conservative projections of $400,000 each in interest earnings, building permits, and various other revenues, based on current and past performance. And, he said, even if those estimates do not quite pan out, they can still use a part of the $31 million in fund balance and avoid having to raise taxes.

In the General Fund Budget there are $27,885,588 in expenditures, $370,418 less than the $28,256,006 in 2025. That decrease is largely attributable to removal of $1.7 million in library funding that was allocated in last year’s budget, but is now no longer included because of the library funding referendum that was passed by voters, which makes the three libraries a separate taxing district. Revenues are budgeted as $11,874,042, a $944,297 increase over $10,929,745 in 2025. 

The other largest component of the budget is the Highway Fund. Expenditures for that fund are slated to be $9,876,804, $248,507 more than 2025’s $9,628,297. Revenues are budgeted at $1,075,329, an increase of $175,929 over $899,400 in 2025.

Kenneally said a key takeaway is that the 2026 budget is $2,310,237 below the tax cap. “If you’re comparing apples to apples and put the library contract back in, we’re still $555,000 below the tax cap, so we’re way under the tax cap.”

Other key takeaways, he said, are that the external auditor, PKF O’Connor Davies, said the town’s financial condition is “excellent” and issued an unmodified opinion, which is the highest level available. He said they had just closed on a bond last week, and S&P Global Ratings had the town maintaining its AAA credit rating; he said that is how they get a 2.9% rate in a higher rate environment. And as of 2024, the last audited financial statement showed the town has $31,146,436 in non-capital fund balance.

“I don’t crystal ball,” Kenneally said, “but based on my projections I think we’re going to add to that for 2025. We’re in an extremely strong fiscal position.” 

He noted they are looked at very favorably by the external auditors and rating companies, and have not broken the tax cap since 2012. “We’re in excellent shape.”

Kenneally cautioned that, while the town has been very lucky in not being hit with major tax certioraris in the past, there are a few large ones pending. He said the town assessor had filled him in on some of the pending cases. “They’re still negotiating,” he said. “We may have a little more exposure this year.” He said there could be a slight adjustment needed to the percentages presented, depending on whether these cases are or are not successful.

The budget hearing was kept open until the next meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at which point the board plans to vote on adopting the budget. There were no public comments during Tuesday’s hearing.

Top Town Salaries

As noted by Town of Bedford Comptroller Kenneally, salaries and benefits are an area of the budget under which all towns inevitably face increases, which will continue to rise, barring layoffs. A section of the adopted budget that is posted each year is the town’s salary schedule, which reveals what every town employee is paid. The Recorder went through the list and pulled out every position with total compensation (base salary plus bonuses or other allowances) of $100,000 or more. 

We found that, other than police, there are 23 town employees with total compensation of over $100,000. There are only four at over $150,000:

Supervisor, $171,411.

Director of Planning, $168,598.

Building Inspector, $168,380.

Commissioner of Public Works, $167,035.

Depending on the department, most of the remaining employees making over $100,000 are in positions governed by civil service, the main exceptions being superintendent of Recreation and Parks, on two separate budget lines totaling $148,552; assessor, $147,036; director of personnel, $125,097; comptroller, $124,645; town clerk, $113,300; tax receiver, $106,090; and confidential secretary to supervisor, $104,777.

The department with the overall highest salaries, however, is the police. The police chief is the highest paid town employee, at $234,265. Under the chief, all police salaries are governed by civil service rules. They include:

Police lieutenant, $184,902.

Police lieutenant, $184,003.

Police lieutenant, $183,606.

Detective sergeant, $172,464.

There are eight police sergeants ranging from $158,572 to $163,200, and four police detectives at between $147,980 and $151,073. There are also 20 police officers, first grade, at between $136,487 and $141,962, and a police officer, third grade at $105,468.