Somerset Finance Committee Unanimously Approves All Six FY26 Year-End Budget Transfers

SOMERSET -- July 14, 2026, Somerset Finance Committee approves all fiscal year 2026 year-end transfers in five unanimous votes. The eight-member committee, meeting July 14 with Town Administrator Mark Iobucci, recommended approval of transfers covering dispatch overtime, streetlights, fire complex wages, highway snow and ice, and regional school assessments. The largest single package was $48,953 in dispatch transfers funded partly from an E-911 grant account. A $75,700 retirement-account-to-streetlights transfer drew the most scrutiny, with Iobucci warning that the same streetlight account, budgeted at $75,000 for fiscal year 2027, will likely fall short again, even after approximately $35,000 in solar credits applied this year. A $76,414 assessment transfer to the Diamond Regional School District reflected a mid-year bond rate increase tied to the district's new high school construction. The town's reserve fund will close fiscal year 2026 with approximately $88,000 unspent, rolling into free cash that currently stands near $3 million, with a $1 million Massachusetts School Building Authority reimbursement for the North Elementary window project still pending.