ROCHESTER – Fiscal year 2025 will be “a little tougher year than we’ve normally had,” as revenues come in more than $100,000 below preliminary operating budgets, said Rochester Finance Director Suzanne Szyndlar.

At a Feb. 12 Rochester Finance Committee meeting, Szyndlar said that estimated revenues are about $121,000 short “to make this budget work.” Szyndlar also said she does not yet have any school budgets, which will impact the town’s approximately $25 million budget.

And based on state budget figures proposed by Gov. Maura Healey, Rochester would receive an increase of approximately $20,000 in aid from fiscal year 2024 to 2025. 

“It’s not a lot of money,” Szyndlar said. 

The town received over $3 million in state aid for fiscal year 2024, according to Massachusetts Department of Revenue data.

But given that Healey’s budget proposal must move through the state House of Representatives, Senate, and a budget conference committee, it’s unclear what the ”bottom line” will be, though Szyndlar said the final numbers in recent years have “been pretty close to the governor’s budget.”

“However, things I think are changing, and [Healey] is already doing 9C cuts for various programs,” Szyndlar said, referring to budget cuts made earlier this year by the state administration to address a budget shortfall.

Figures are currently estimates and subject to change, according to Szyndlar.

The Finance Committee also approved more than two dozen specific budgets that had been submitted, budgets that ranged from the reserve fund to plumbing, gas, and electrical inspectors to legal counsel.

Among those, the committee approved $20,000 for a mattress recycling line item. 

“Currently people are dropping off mattresses at the DPW, and they’re also disposing of mattresses on the side of the road or dumping them in the woods, and we are grabbing those and it is costing us every time,” Town Administrator Glenn Cannon said.

The committee also approved an $11,200 budget for town cemeteries. Costs associated with maintaining the grass at the cemeteries rose to $45 per hour, according to Cannon. That increase is due to a change in the firm doing that work. The previous firm charged $20 an hour.

The Finance Committee also passed a motion to recommend a 3% cost-of-living adjustment to the Rochester Select Board, which affects certain town employees.

“Certainly as we look through this, there’s going to be places we’re going to need to be cutting, so I’d rather lock in the [cost-of-living adjustment] now so we can set that rate, and then we can look for places to cut,” Cannon said during  discussion of that motion.