06/01/2026
Dudley Is Not Adding Staff-A common question in any budget discussion is whether the Town is adding staff or expanding government.
The answer is no.
Dudley is not adding staff in FY2027, and total Town staffing has not increased over the last three fiscal years.
Looking at recent staffing levels by FTE — full-time equivalent, a standard way to count staffing based on hours worked, not just the number of individual employees:
Total Town staffing:
FY2025: 58.89 FTE
FY2026: 58.89 FTE
FY2027: 56.99 FTE
That means FY2027 staffing is down approximately 1.90 FTE from FY2026.
The department-level picture also shows that core service staffing has remained flat or lean:
Police: 17 FTE in FY2025, FY2026, and FY2027
Fire/EMS: 16 FTE in FY2025, FY2026, and FY2027
Highway: has remained in a lean staffing range over the last three fiscal years while continuing to support roads, snow and ice response, drainage, equipment, public buildings, cemeteries, beaches, parks, playgrounds, and other Town-owned grounds.
But staffing on paper is not always the same as available coverage in the field.
Vacations, sick time, training, court, injuries, injured-on-duty leave, light duty, vacancies, and required leave all affect actual coverage.
In recent police staffing data reviewed by the Town, injured-on-duty and light-duty situations accounted for 3,642 total hours of affected staffing time, including 1,452 injured-on-duty hours and 2,190 light-duty hours.
Those hours do not represent extra staffing. They represent the reality of maintaining operations when employees are injured, restricted, in training, in court, on leave, or otherwise unavailable for full-duty coverage.
When that happens, the Town still has to provide services.
Police calls still come in.
Fire/EMS calls still come in.
Roads still need to be maintained.
Snow and ice still have to be handled.
Public buildings, parks, cemeteries, beaches, and daily municipal operations still need support.
That is why overtime and shift coverage matter. Overtime is not automatically extra staffing. In many cases, it is how the Town fills coverage gaps created by vacancies, injuries, light duty, required leave, training, court, emergencies, or minimum coverage needs.
The FY2027 budget discussion is not about adding staff or expanding government. The staffing numbers show that Dudley is not doing that.
It is about whether Dudley can maintain current services with fewer total FTEs than FY2025 and FY2026, while required costs and operating pressures continue to increase.
Public information presentation:
https://www.dudleyma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1155/Public-Information-Session-5212026
FY2027 expenditure document:
https://www.dudleyma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1154/Expenditures-for-Budget-2027
Free Axios Boston article on police overtime, staffing pressure, and FTE reductions:
https://www.axios.com/2026/04/29/boston-police-overtime-spending-100-million-bpd-budget
Police Department
Fire Department
Election Reminder: Annual Town Election is Monday, June 15, 2026, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Dudley Municipal Complex, 71 West Main Street.
