Kingston Approves $61 Million Budget, Rejects Creation of Public Works Department

Town Meeting rejects DPW measure by narrow margin; approves mall redevelopment plan

KINGSTON - April 26 - Kingston voters approve a $61 million budget for fiscal year 2026 and narrowly reject a controversial measure to create a Department of Public Works during the April 26 Annual Town Meeting.

The budget represents a 5% increase over the previous fiscal year, with significant funding increases for education, police, and fire services. Finance Committee Chair Carl Pike explains the impact on taxpayers.

"What this budget means to the average taxpayer, the average value of a residential real estate property in Kingston for FY26 is projected to be $665,000. The budget that we're asking you to approve will result in an average tax increase on this average home value of approximately $500," Pike says.

Education accounts for 53.7% of the total budget at $32.7 million, representing a $1.5 million increase over FY25. Police and fire departments receive $9.7 million, an increase of $1.1 million.

Pike warns that the town has nearly exhausted its excess levy capacity, leaving only $3,000 remaining. This means future budget increases will need to be limited or the town will face a Proposition 2.5 override vote next year.

"We have been able to fund these significant education, police, and fire budget increases over the past four to five years because we had built up this large excess levy capacity," Pike says. "The FY27 total budget increases will have to be held to somewhere in the 3% to 4% level, or town residents will have to be presented with a Proposition 2.5 override question a year from now."

In one of the meeting's most contentious debates, voters narrowly reject the creation of a Department of Public Works.

Board of Selectmen Chair Eric Crone presents the proposal, explaining that the retirement of longtime Streets, Trees, and Parks Superintendent Paul Basler created an opportunity to evaluate the town's structure.

"This isn't just about organizational change. It's about improving how we serve our residents, how we respond to emergencies, maintain our roads, manage our water and sewer systems, and plan for future growth," Crone says.

The plan calls for hiring a professional engineer as DPW director to oversee the daily operations of highway, water, and sewer departments while keeping the elected water and sewer commissions intact for policy decisions.

Water and sewer commissioners strongly oppose the measure, arguing it adds an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy and threatens their authority.

"The bylaw replaces the reporting responsibility from two elected commissions, Water and Sewer, dedicated to their disciplines with an elected Board of Selectmen and another layer of management with the DPW director," says Sewer Commissioner Elaine Fiore.

Water Commissioner Bob Kostka expresses concern about the potential impact on water quality. "We need, in my opinion, an organization where it is focused strictly on the water, not distracted by trees or streets or snow plowing or the sewer department or leach fields, strictly the water."

Voters approve a land swap to facilitate redevelopment of the Kingston Collection mall, including a potential gas station that would accompany a major retailer taking over the vacant Macy's space.

Selectman Tyler Bouchard emphasizes the economic importance of the project, noting the mall's assessed value has dropped from $90 million to $9 million over the past decade.

"A large retail box store wants to come in and take over Macy's. They will not come in to Kingston and take over Macy's if they do not have the gas station that coincides with it," Bouchard says. "This is the growth in the best area we can do it, which is the mall, which is failing."

Water commissioners express concerns about potential contamination of nearby wells, but Town Planner Valerie Massard assures voters the site is outside the mapped zone two water protection area.

Other significant items approved at Town Meeting include:

- A measure to provide cost-of-living increases for veterans' tax exemptions

- Creation of a Taxation Aid Committee and fund to help elderly and disabled residents with tax bills

- Zoning amendments to accommodate accessory dwelling units and fix errors in commercial district use tables

- A $137,820 appropriation from the general fund to help defray one-third of the sewer leaching field debt service

The meeting also rejects a motion to add $575,000 to the police budget for additional staffing. Police Chief Brian Holmes requests funding for two patrol officers and one sergeant, but Finance Committee members argue the department has already received significant increases over the past two years.

"We increased their budget for FY25, our current fiscal year, by $640,000. This budget that you're looking at now includes an increase of almost $500,000, so that over the two years or so, we have increased the budget by $1,130,000," Pike says.

Full meeting available via The Local Seen.