SCITUATE — Oct. 13, 2026 — The Scituate Select Board last Tuesday unanimously approved a three-year contract with the town’s firefighters union that pairs 3% annual raises with a payment for members who drop town health insurance, then heard a recommended FY28 capital plan that holds down new borrowing and sends a $4.2 million water tank request back for better numbers.
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The memorandum of agreement with Fire Fighters Union Local 1464 covers FY28 through FY30 and provides a 3% raise in each year. Town negotiators first sought a one-year deal to give the budget certainty. Talks then moved to two years, so a new fire chief would have time in the job after the current chief ages out in August, and the union then proposed three years to keep the contract on its regular schedule.
The town’s labor counsel puts recent three-year contract awards at 8% to 12%, the board was told. The agreement also adds an insurance opt-out the town has been writing into its union contracts. An employee who leaves the town health plan receives $6,000 for a family plan or $3,000 for an individual plan, which still saves the town about $14,000 for each family plan dropped. Employees must show other coverage and cannot move onto a spouse’s town plan. Last year the town’s employer share of health insurance for this unit alone topped $400,000.
The FY28 capital plan was a presentation, not a vote; the chair called it a preview. The town administrator’s recommendation goes next to the Capital Budget Committee, which begins meeting the following night. Departments have $151 million in capital requests over the next five years, much of it for water and sewer.
The plan keeps borrowing down, with two exceptions: $594,000 for firefighter air packs, backed by a $390,000 grant, and $3 million toward a $3.5 million temporary raw water intake and dredging of the reservoir, with the other half-million in other articles. The presentation said the work would improve water quality and add storage. Most of the plan draws on free cash; $3.7 million was cited.
They had another 4.2 million for the water tank. I rejected that, told them to go back to the drawing board, get some better numbers because that keeps going up and up and up without any real reason that I can see.
— Jim Boudreau, Town Administrator, presenting the FY28 recommended capital plan 23:30
The recommendation also includes the seventh year of the town’s facilities plan at almost $900,000, plus fire department turnout gear, hoses and a new ambulance. The presentation cited $400,000 dedicated to sidewalks this year, starting on Stockbridge Road once its design is updated. It warned that higher local receipt estimates will affect next year’s free cash and that enterprise borrowing must be weighed against rates. A budget presentation and FY28 operating budget recommendations are due at the board’s next meeting.
The board unanimously approved what the docket calls a super conservation restriction, under Chapter 184, Sections 31-33 of the Massachusetts General Laws, on eight town properties: Crosbie-Appleton, Damon, Wade-Lind, Mirarchi-Scituate-Reservoir, Wolfe-Jackson, Higgins-MacAllister off Holly Crest Road, Hubbell and Bound Brook. The town bought the land years ago; the restriction makes its protection permanent after more than 10 years of work by the Conservation Commission with the state and Wildlands Trust. Freya Schlegel recused herself before the discussion.
