Hingham Faces $810,822 Budget Gap for FY26
Town Administrator Proposes Cuts and Shifts to Meet 3.5% Cap on Municipal Budget Increases
HINGHAM - February 25 - The Town of Hingham faces an $810,822 budget gap for fiscal year 2026 as department requests exceed the 3.5% cap on municipal budget increases established in a 2023 financial management plan.
Town Administrator Tom Mayo presented his recommendations to close this gap during the Feb. 25 Select Board meeting, held jointly with the Advisory and School Committees, outlining a series of salary adjustments and expense reductions across multiple town departments.
"When those CBAs [collective bargaining agreements] settle at something higher than our commitment, it's difficult to fit them into the budget that year without significant service impacts," Mayo explains. "We're doing our best to do this."
The gap emerged after department heads submitted their level services budget requests totaling $38,016,166, while the 3.5% cap limits the budget to $37,205,344.
Mayo's proposal includes shifting some salaries to revolving funds, reducing hours, and moving contracts to close the gap. The largest adjustments come from Public Works ($177,897), Recreation ($130,525), and the Fire Department ($96,000).
One of the more controversial recommendations involves moving the Recreation Director's salary from the general fund to the Recreation Department's revolving fund.
Recreation Commission Chair Vicki Donlan expressed concern about this change during public comment.
"We're talking about completely getting rid of the Rec Director's salary, which is the only funded piece by the town," Donlan says. "I think it's a very sad precedent to set."
Donlan notes that the Recreation Department has grown significantly under current director Mark Thorell's leadership, from a $600,000 budget when she joined 13 years ago to its current size.
"If something were to happen to Mark, if he were to leave and we were to have to hire someone to hire someone and tell them that there is no salary attached to the job, that we would hope that they would be as good as the former director in order to make their own salary. It would be very difficult," she argues.
Mayo responds that the change is "in no way a reflection on Mark and his work, or the importance he makes to the town."
"This also in no way affects his pay, or his ability to earn his retirement. All of his benefits, everything stays exactly the same," Mayo clarifies. "Mark still comes, he's still an employee of the town, he still works for the Rec department."
Mayo compares the situation to enterprise funds like the South Shore Country Club, where the director's salary comes from the enterprise fund rather than the general fund.
"I would say that I think it's a slight exaggeration to suggest that the town is not supporting the Rec department," Mayo adds, noting that the Recreation Department benefits from town-owned fields and facilities, as well as support from accounting, IT, maintenance, HR, and treasury departments.
The proposed budget adjustments also include:
- $80,800 in savings from a new assessment process for the South Shore Regional Emergency Communications Center
- $70,801 from the Health Department through salary adjustments and utilizing opioid funds
- $63,500 from the Police Department's expense budgets
- $51,500 from the Harbor Master by adjusting salaries within the waterways fund
- $43,250 reduction in the emergency water line from the Weir River water system
- $37,356 adjustment to the Reserve Fund
- $25,893 in Veteran Services salary adjustments
- Minor adjustments from Animal Control, Historic Preservation, and Select Board
The remaining $222,773 will come from Article 4 adjustments.
Mayo acknowledges that while budget constraints can be "a healthy exercise for a town to try to cut off some of the chaff that accumulates over several years," the town is reaching a point where "we're thinned out, and additional cuts of this degree are going to start impacting the public's interaction with their community."
The financial management plan that established the 3.5% cap was signed in 2023 by the Select Board, School Committee, Advisory Committee, Town Administrator, and School Superintendent. It remains in effect through FY28.
Select Board Chair Joe Fisher notes that "this is the time when we see the impact of our commitment to 3.5 impacting the services to be delivered."
"In some cases, it's a net loss of salary, perhaps an employee. In other cases, this is a shifting of the revenue source out of the operating budget," Fisher says.
The Select Board did not vote on the budget recommendations at this meeting but will review the proposed adjustments.
Other items addressed at the meeting included:
* Approval of an agreement with Boston Light and Sound for audiovisual services for the 2025 Annual Town Meeting at a cost of $54,171.70
* Removal of four warrant articles from the 2025 Annual Town Meeting Warrant
* Approval of Community Preservation Committee grant agreements for the community playground project and the Hingham Affordable Housing Trust Opportunity Fund
* Approval of an amendment to the agreement with ProBuilt Designs LLC for playground project modifications in an amount not to exceed $112,000
* Recommendation of favorable action on the South Shore Country Club authorization to borrow $687,000 for equipment and renovations