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Stafford Budget Recap '25-'26

Updated: Apr 28

On April 29th, 2025, Stafford will go to the polls for a second time to vote on a budget for the coming fiscal year. For those who may need a refresher, let's get down to it.


Where It Started


  • Total: $49,222,616

  • Board of Selectmen: $16,433,874.50

  • Board of Education: $32,788,741.33


This budget failed by a large margin after a historic voter turnout (1,644-671). In the aftermath, the Board of Finance (BOF) requested that the schools reduce their proposed budget by more than $984,000. This resulted in the BOE having an increase of $718,083, or 2.31% over last year. The district has said that to roll this year's budget over to next year, they would need a nearly 10% increase.


The BOF did not ask the selectmen to cut their side of the budget, but the BOS voluntarily made $107,500 in cuts to the town budget, resulting in a $46,786 ( or a 0.29%) increase over last year.* This week, the BOE held a special meeting to approve the budget cuts officially. That proposal called for the elimination of 16.5 positions, although several of them were already vacant, and included the positions eliminated in the initial budget proposal. However, in an unexpected move, the BOE decided to use funds allocated for debt service and retain some of those positions in the budget. They voted to keep the MLL teacher full-time, the math interventionist, band teacher, and the secondary school psychologist positions. However, if the schools end up having to pay the town for the debt service, those positions would likely be among the first to be eliminated.


Where We Are


  • Total: $48,130,313

  • Board of Selectmen: $16,326,374.50

  • Board of Education: $31,803,937.99


So, what do all these cuts get us? A 1 mill increase. If this budget does not pass, the BOF will have to impose more cuts. The BOE has signaled what changes would be next:


  • Increasing elementary school class sizes

  • Increasing the sports transportation fees

  • Reconsidering which sports programs it offers

  • The middle school technology refresh


*The dollar and percentage increase were added to this sentence at the request of Stafford's Financial Director, Yana Abramovich.



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