Blandford Finance Committee Reviews FY26 Budgets, Flags Procurement and Fee Practices

BLANDFORD — January 12, 2026 — Blandford Finance Committee reviewed FY26 departmental budgets across five departments at a January 12 work session, with no votes taken. Library Director Christina reported the new library's planning and design phase closed with a surplus of $56,392.98 against appropriated and grant funds — half to be returned to the state under the 50 percent reimbursement terms — and requested that library staff wages rise from $16.40 to $17 per hour, calling the current rate below the regional benchmark for bachelor's degree holders with specialized skills. Finance staff advised Tree Warden Mark to formalize annual vendor agreements with at least three tree services to satisfy Massachusetts procurement rules governing his $44,000 ash-removal budget, which is approximately half spent. The committee flagged that the town clerk's compensation has been mislabeled as a "stipend" for years and agreed to relabel it as salary; staff also raised, for the first time before this committee, whether the clerk should continue retaining statutory fees — approximately $584 in the current period — or whether those amounts should flow to the general fund. On conservation, a longstanding question about the dilapidated house at the town-owned Shepard Farm surfaced again, with a $50,000 demolition estimate and a state DCR approval form drafted years ago but never submitted.