The Hudson Police Department outlined its proposed 2026–2027 fiscal year budget during the Nov. 13 meeting of the Hudson Budget Committee, highlighting plans to address staffing shortages and create a new Deputy Chief position.
“We looked through our budget with our staff, and we ended up adding 2% into the operational portion of the budget, but we did have some outside requests that were added in as well,” said Police Chief David Cayot.
One major point of discussion was the administrative restructuring proposal to convert a Captain position into a newly created Deputy Chief role. Committee member Shawn Jasper questioned the clarity of the plan.
“That isn’t giving us a full picture of the administrative costs,” Jasper said. “This seems like a highly unusual way of doing budgeting.”
Town Administrator Roy Sorenson confirmed that the costs for the new position were included in the operations section of the police budget.
“The difficulty here is the way the books are set up. You have people here in positions with names. Basically, we would have to take one of the captains and put them into that Deputy Chief position in advance of them getting that position,” explained Sorenson.
Beyond the Deputy Chief proposal, committee members pressed for details on filling existing vacancies.
“Were any of these vacancies present in last year’s budget?” asked Committee Chair James Lawrence. “If so, what do you think your likelihood of filling those over the next year would be?”
Cayot reported progress on hiring efforts, noting that three positions have been filled and two more candidates are in the pipeline.
“We’re actually at a point where, going into this budget, we’ll either be at one vacancy or at full staff,” he said. “Sixty-eight is the number of slots we have for full-time.”
Jasper cautioned that maintaining full staffing could remain a challenge.
“It’s something to be aware of,” he said.
Committee member Bill Cole raised concerns that the police budget appeared to exceed the 2.5% spending increase recommended by the Board of Selectmen for all town departments. He also flagged additional costs for items such as new software.
“That was not in a budget line item when the budget came to us the first time,” Cole said.
Vehicle replacement was another topic of discussion. Committee member Kevin Walsh asked for specifics on cruiser maintenance and replacement schedules.
“How many vehicles are in the pool now? Do you have a spare? Do you plan to replace three vehicles? Two vehicles? Four?” Walsh asked. “Do you keep one in the pool that’s not used?”
Cayot explained that three cruisers are typically replaced annually on a four-year cycle.
“We do have spares, because we have 15 marked cruisers right now and we don’t have 15 marked cruisers out on the streets all at one time,” said Cayot. “We don’t want to be using all the cars at one time, because we won’t get them to last the four years, and if one breaks down, we wouldn’t have a spare.”
A more detailed review of the police budget is expected in the coming weeks.
