At the March 23 meeting of the Dudley Select Board, Steven Lamarche, Dudley-Charlton Regional School District Superintendent, presented the school district’s budget update, saying that “we are still in flux as to where the state is going to land and we hope the House comes out with its budget in two weeks maybe and we’ll have a better understanding on a couple of these items. Chapter 70 funds have not changed and we do not anticipate that the Governor will change what she has put into her budget.” 

Lamarche then reviewed each budget aspect as it pertained to funding from school choice, resource officers, health insurance costs including savings resulting from GLP-1 weight loss drugs’ reclassifications and their effect on health insurance budgets, out-of-district placements, and a 30 percent increase in students who identify with disabilities in the school district of approximately 700 students. He spoke about employee health benefits that had a downward adjustment. Lamarche stated, “We are looking at a 12 percent increase in health insurance benefits. That’s half of what it was last year for us. Retiree health benefits are the biggest nugget that hit us on January 1. We are absorbing this in our operating budget. We are making sacrifices to make sure we are paying for this year without coming back and asking for additional money and that’s a $522,000 increase for the fiscal year 2027. We have 351 retirees who are participating in retirement insurance as a school district. The retirees don’t fall back on the town budget; we take care of the retirees in our regional school budget. There was a 60 percent increase in their benefits from December 31, 2025 to January 1, 2026 and we don’t think it will be that large (of an increase) going forward as there was a three-year contract with the insurance company; this is the reason for the 60 percent increase. There was no doubt that the insurance company was losing money by the third year.”

Lamarche also stated that the budget increase was 5.69 percent. To offset some of the budget increase, he mentioned that the school district did not use the Amazon monies given to the district last year but held it to offset the school budget this year for customary school supplies and the district will also be using state aid toward their $60 million budget. 

A Finance, Advisory, and Appropriations Board member asked Jon Ruda, town administrator, “What is your time frame for budget recommendations?” Mr. Ruda responded “We still have to hear from Water and Sewer and we’re going to need some time to work through all the recommendations.” 

Ruda further stated “Every year we balance our budget for July 1 and then we actually fix and set our budget in October. It’s just the way it seems to work every year. We never have a full picture in front of us until we get to October and all the budgets have been settled and the revenues collected have been settled and then we’re able to realize a free cash number and come up with a balanced budget for the remainder of the year. It’s just the way it works every single year. We don’t have the extra money to play with to balance for July 1 ever.”

Dudley Library Director, Nicole Messier, presented an additional fiscal budget 2027 request for a 1.85% increase, or $7,500, to run the Pearl Crawford Memorial Library. Selectman Steve Sullivan asked Messier if the additional funds were to keep the town’s library certification and Messier stated that to keep within the state budget requirements the library would have to maintain a minimum amount of operational funding to qualify for state aid. 

“In order for us to meet the requirements we would have to take the average funding of the past three years and add an additional 2.5 percent so the $413,145 (total operational budget) gets us to where we need to be and then we will qualify for our state aid,” she said.

Also at the meeting, the Select Board approved a Class II license for Pro Automotive owner, Jason Rousseau, to operate his auto and truck repair business in a former Toyota Dealership building at 191 West Main Street. Board member Sullivan thanked Mr. Rousseau for keeping his business in Dudley after which the board approved the Class II license. 

A Class II license allows buying and selling used cars and authorizes the purchase and display of used motor vehicles for resale to the public with the licenses generally expiring on January 1 of each year. It also covers persons who display used vehicles not owned by them, in exchange for compensation. Licensees must maintain a $25,000 surety bond to protect consumers who may suffer a loss. Holders must abide by local zoning laws and maintain records of all vehicles bought or sold.  

A town-wide yard sale date was approved for Saturday, June 27, at the Dudley Town Hall, 71 West Main Street, to be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nichols College was also granted parking exceptions for May events as well as for student move-out dates.