The Longmeadow Select Board hears the reccomendations for the FY27 capital improvements from Town Manager Lyn Simmons
Photo credit: LongmeadowTV
LONGMEADOW — While presenting her recommendations for fiscal year 2027’s capital improvement plan at the Longmeadow Select Board meeting on March 23, Town Manager Lyn Simmons found that only around $1.5 million can be allocated from the nearly $18 million requested from town departments on capital projects.
“The need greatly outweighs what we have available for funds,” Simmons said.
This plan is a revised version of what was originally sent to the Capital Planning Committee in January to balance the FY27 budget.
The town reduced the capital plan in FY26 in an attempt to balance the budget, intending to bring back $782,035 in FY27, but could not find a way to allocate it.
“When we started building the FY27 budget, we had the hole from FY26 to fill if we wanted to meet the full capital planning policy, which was 3% of general fund revenue, which was about $2.3 million,” Simmons said. “As the budget came further into focus, we realized that it would not be possible to present a balanced budget without the use of reserves, while meeting that increase in capital.”
The DPW requested $500,000 for sidewalk replacements, with only $190,000 being met in the plan. Select Board Chair Josh Levine asked how many miles or feet of sidewalk that would be able to cover, and Simmons said it would depend on the extent of work needed to be done. Levine asked if there were any areas that the money was being planned for, and DPW Director Sean Van Deusen said funds would be allocated to finish a project on Forest Glen Road, and that there was also a “significant backlog” of sidewalk work that needs to be done.
Van Deusen said he would send a list of the backlog to the Select Board, and Levine said “we could allocate more, if there is more,” depending on how big the list is.
Levine asked Simmons if there were any late cuts that might be brought back “next time around,” and she said the maintenance and reconstruction of the Center School parking lot, which was requested for $300,000.
“This was one that we did want to address,” Simmons said. “With the upcoming work that’s about to take place there for the roof replacement and windows, this was one that we felt like we could defer, but this is one that we want to get done in the next couple years.”
The school received a $150,000 allocation for front entrance architecture because the work wasn’t eligible under the current Massachusetts School Building Authority accelerated repair program.
The Police Department also received funding for exterior wood and trim design and upgrades, with $175,000 allocated from the $500,000 requested.
Simmons said a design is in process, which will “dictate the extent” of what can be done. She added that she’s looking for legislative help for funding and potentially “making an ask of the capital stabilization” at the fall Town Meeting once the town knows what kind of funding is available and how far the work needed should go.
The remaining projects recommended by Simmons are a chiller at Blueberry Hill School for $198,000, project development for DPW engineering at $25,000 and election tabulators at the town clerk’s office for $36,400.
Apart from the projects paid for by the general fund, an additional $735,000 is also being recommended to be used in free cash for a few items, such as a fire alarm panel at the Richard Salter Storrs Library for $200,000, Williams Middle School alternative field usage maintenance for $200,000, along with $335,000 going toward IT for network equipment, projection equipment and Longmeadow Police Department network enhancements.
The alternative field usage maintenance is to deal with the overuse of fields across town as Williams becomes offline and to start work on some “necessary redesign of some of those fields as a result of that overuse,” according to Simmons. She added that the network equipment is for the schools and the projection equipment is for both the town and schools. A five-year plan was made and Simmons said it’s for her to keep track of the town’s assets, inventory, facilities and infrastructure.
“We’ll have to have some conversations about what is the priority and how we’re going to tackle it,” Simmons said. “I think that, all in collectively, between the work of the Select Board, my office, the departments, we’ve done a really good job prioritizing and going after different buckets of money because if we just relied on capital, it wouldn’t get done.”
