Gardner council reviews 2027 funding requests as cemetery and treatment programs seek increases

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Council members on discussed requests from outside agencies during their April meeting, with finance staff laying out proposed 2027 contributions and flagging areas that may need additional review.

Finance director Matt summarized the agency requests: the Gardner Chamber of Commerce asked for $75,000 and the Gardner Historical Museum asked for $25,000, the same as 2026. The Drug and Alcoholism Council requested $42,000. The Gardner Cemetery Association submitted a request of up to 58,432 — about a 22% increase over its 2026 ask — citing the retirement of a long-time contractor, higher waste-removal costs and an expanded part-time sexton role.

"They were not able to find a more competitive bid for 2027," Matt said when explaining the cemetery’s increase, and staff noted the Association had covered part of the 2026 increase from contingency funds but is seeking to avoid that step in 2027.

Council members pressed staff on the special alcohol and drug fund, which currently supports the city’s contribution to a shared mental-health co-responder. Council member (name recorded in meeting roll call) asked whether Gardner might need its own co-responder in the near term. Staff and others noted the city’s present contribution to the shared co-responder is $20,000. "I would guess it's going to be around 65,000 to have our own," said Pam, who answered council questions during the presentation, describing that figure as an estimate and committing to get a firmer number.

Budget modeling and further details on operating and maintenance requests are scheduled for the council’s May meetings. Matt told council he would prepare fund models and bring additional context with the operating and maintenance requests so the body could more clearly weigh any proposed increases.

The council took no final funding votes on the outside agency requests during the meeting; staff asked for direction from council to carry the requests into the draft 2027 budget and return with more detail in May.