Seekonk Unveils $72M Budget

Town Administrator Shawn Cadime unveiled a tentative FY’2025 budget of $72.1 million at Wednesday’s Select Board meeting.

That figure represents a 3.7 percent increase over the current fiscal year’s budget.

$34.3 million has been designated for education. That figure represents a 2.9 percent increase, which includes Tri County Regional Vocational High School as well as Bristol Agricultural High School.

The General Government expenditure is $20 million.

A debut exclusion (temporary tax increase) question is on the April 1 election ballot. If it is rejected, the money to pay for the town’s share of the Tri County building project will be taken from the operating budget. That figure could be as much as $1 million.

“We will probably see some significant changes with this budget,” Cadime noted.

Public  Safety funding, which includes Police, Fire, Animal Control, and the Building Department, will be increased by 8.5 percent for a total of $12.3 million.

The Police Department budget is $5.6 million, a 4.8 percent increase over the current fiscal year. That allows for 44 full time employees including the Police Chief and a Deputy Chief.

The Fire Department budget is $4.9 million, a 13.5 percent increase over the current fiscal year. That allows for 45 full time employees including a Fire Chief, a Deputy Chief, two captains and one EMS Coordinator.

Cadime said the budget does not include four additional hires, which would bring groups to 11 firefighters per shift. The Select Board had made a commitment to have 12 firefighters per shift over the next three years. Five new firefighters were added during the current fiscal year.

Fire Chief Michael Small is serving on an interim basis. The Deputy Chief position has been vacant for the last three years.

Cadime said a reorganization of the department will take some time to implement.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know that we would see this in fiscal year 25 or potentially 26. It’s something that we need to keep on the horizon to understand how we can do a better job of addressing the recruitment and retention challenges,” Cadime added.

The complete 2025 budget can be accessed on the town’s website: Seekonk-ma.gov.