Granby Finance Committee Warns Town Must Choose Between Tax Hikes and Service Cuts

GRANBY — April 21, 2026 — Granby Finance Committee prepares its bluntest fiscal warning yet for May town meeting. Meeting in budget-preparation session on April 21, the committee told two invited guests that the town faces a structural deficit driven by a combined 50 percent increase in health insurance premiums over two years, a trash-collection contract that has grown from approximately $300,000 to $600,000 per year, and a school department request for the state-required minimum plus a $600,000 retired-teachers' health insurance add-on unique to Granby plus an additional $800,000 for fiscal year 2027. The committee also raised an unresolved bookkeeping deficiency — ongoing since at least December — that leaves members unable to verify stabilization fund balances, payroll account status, or current health insurance costs, and warned that unsolved by fiscal year-end it could leave departments with no recourse but to add shortfalls to the following year's tax rate. "You can't just come to town meeting and ask budgets that are big because we don't have the money anymore," the chair said. The committee's annual report, due before the May 11 town meeting, will call on the Select Board to convene a community-wide process to choose between service reductions and tax increases.