Weymouth's FY2026 Budget Increases 4% Amid Rising Fixed Costs
Town faces significant increases in health insurance, trash disposal expenses as officials present $218.8 million spending plan
WEYMOUTH - April 22 - Weymouth officials present a $218.8 million operating budget for fiscal year 2026, representing a 4% increase over the current fiscal year. The budget, which includes approximately $8.3 million in new revenue and spending, faces significant challenges from rising fixed costs.
Chief of Staff Ted Langill presented the proposed budget to the Town Council on April 22, highlighting that this marks the administration's tenth budget.
"The total operating budget, $218,812,363. That's a 4% increase over the current fiscal year, about $8.3 million in new revenue and new spending for this year's FY26 budget," Langill says.
The budget relies on three main revenue sources: the tax levy (the largest portion), state aid, and local receipts combined with internal transfers.
While the budget benefits from the largest projected new growth in the administration's ten years and the largest cherry sheet increase in more than a decade, these gains are quickly offset by significant cost increases.
"Most of them were not helpful," Langill notes about the various factors affecting the budget. "But again, the two helpful parts was we are looking at the largest projected new growth in our 10 years of budgets in FY26. And it was the largest cherry sheet increase in more than 10 years."
Health insurance costs present one of the most significant challenges, with an 8.3% projected increase for FY2026, following an 11% increase in FY2025.
"If that becomes a trend, that's going to be a difficult cost to overcome," Langill warns.
The health insurance increases alone account for $2.3 million of the new expenses, consuming a substantial portion of new revenue. Langill points out that before these recent increases, health insurance costs had been more manageable, even decreasing by 2.3% in one previous year.
Trash disposal costs have also risen dramatically, with per-ton costs increasing from approximately $74 to over $104, plus about $90 per ton for recycling. This has resulted in a half-million-dollar increase in the trash budget.
To address the widening gap between trash expenses and revenue, officials propose increasing the trash fee to $27 per quarter for residents and $12.50 per quarter for seniors, who will still receive a significant discount.
"The proposed new fee would be $27 per quarter for residents and $12.50 per quarter for seniors who will still get a significant discount off of the fee, $126 discount off the fee," Langill explains.
Even with the fee increase, Langill emphasizes that Weymouth residents receive more services for their money than many neighboring communities, including 20 weeks of yard waste pickup, Christmas tree collection, bulk item pickup, and free access to the yard waste drop-off facility.
Other rising costs affecting the budget include:
- Retirement costs increasing by 4.5%
- State assessments rising by 9.6%
- Overlay abatement budget increasing by nearly 10%
- Underfunded electricity and building maintenance costs
Of the $8.3 million in new revenue, approximately 42% is allocated to fixed costs, 32% to schools, and 26% to other town departments.
The water and sewer budget is projected to increase by about 2%, which Langill describes as "reasonable" given the trash fee increase.
"Because of the trash fee increase we try to make this not a huge increase since we're doing the trash fee also. So we're expecting around a 2% increase in the water sewer rates," he says.
The Community Preservation budget remains unchanged from FY2025 at $1.2 million, while the Field and Facility Enterprise Fund is increasing to reflect actual expenses.
The town also faces a $1.45 million snow and ice removal deficit from the past winter, which will be covered by free cash. Weymouth has approximately $7.2 million in certified free cash, with $4.8 million coming from the host community agreement with Algonquin Gas.
"That only leaves about 700,000 for regular free cash. The rest being the host community agreement," Langill notes.
Town Council President Michael Molisse praised the budget presentation, noting that Weymouth is "doing much better than other towns" and thanking department heads for their work.
Langill acknowledged the collaborative effort, mentioning that departments had prepared alternative budgets if deeper cuts were needed.
"I did have departments send in a second budget if we needed to cut more. So we do have that plan B, if you will, if it didn't turn out the way it did," Langill says.
The budget will now undergo a five-week review by the Budget Management Committee, chaired by Greg Shanahan. A public hearing in the form of an annual town meeting is scheduled for May 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the council chambers, where Mayor Hedlund and Langill will present the proposed budget and solicit public comments.