The Health Department will be able to hire one or more per diem nurses as part of its fiscal year 2026 budget, according to Health Director Shaun McAuliffe.

In a review of the department’s revised FY 26 operating budget Tuesday night, McAuliffe informed the Board of Health he had negotiated a more robust budget with the town manager and chief financial officer.

“I provided explanations as to what would happen if we went level-funded or with a budget that didn’t allow for the hire of a new nurse and we had to absorb other cuts,” he explained. 

Added McAuliffe: “They decided that it wasn’t in the town’s best interest to proceed with that 1.3% budget.”

The Health Department previously had been advised to submit a budget for FY 26 with a maximum increase of 1.3% over  fiscal year 2025. Kyla LaPierre, the town’s chief financial officer, stated in a Select Board meeting this past December that allowing a maximum 1.3% increase in department budgets town-wide would help the town avoid dipping into free cash or enacting an override.

McAuliffe said that the revised Health Department budget would be an 18.1% increase over FY 25 with a 6.9% increase on salary line items. The proposed public nursing budget will be kept “essentially level-funded.”

A budget for items like medical supplies and licensure was kept the same as well, though McAuliffe said those costs could be picked up by the MetroWest Shared Public Health Services collaborative.

“If we don’t see any major changes in the collaborative funding, we’ll be able to pass almost all of those other expenses off to [it] for payment,” he said.

The total FY 26 budget for the Health Department clocks in just shy of $590,000. McAuliffe is set to defend the budget in front of the Select Board in March.

“With this budget, I think we’re in a good spot to move forward into the future,” he said.

McAuliffe also noted that this budget could allow the department to collaborate with the state in developing a regional testing lab. Department members already have the necessary lab certifications, and McAuliffe claimed the state already had initiated discussions about providing the necessary equipment.

The resulting testing unit would be tasked with operating within the region to conduct blood testing as well as testing for respiratory viruses.

“[They] have to start funding this so departments like us … can provide this added level of service to residents in and around Hopkinton,” McAuliffe explained.

Member Mary Jo Ondrechen confirmed with McAuliffe that the department would be able to staff the testing unit with the per diem nurses the FY 26 budget allows for. 

Chair Richard Jacobs said he was encouraged by the budget update. “It’s 180 degrees from where we were before,” he said.

“This isn’t the time to cut back on the Health Department,” McAuliffe said, noting the adverse impacts the community could face if critical health services were not funded. Seniors and other vulnerable groups would be the most impacted as a result, he claimed.

Added McAuliffe: “We’re at a good place with the budget [the town] approved.”