ADAMS — If all else remains equal, taxes will go up by just under $158 next year for the owner of the average single-family house in Adams.

The town's $20.8 million budget for fiscal 2027, including assessments for education, represents an increase of nearly 4.9 percent over the current budget. Contractual obligations, health insurance and utilities — including natural gas — are major drivers of this increase.

Town Administrator Nicholas Caccamo called the final version a level services budget. About 40 percent of the budget is taken up with education costs, both for McCann Technical School and for Hoosac Valley Regional School District.

Based on an estimated residential tax rate of $16.23 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, the owner of a single-family home assessed at $264,725 will pay about $4,295 next year. That also assumes that Adams will continue shifting its commercial tax rate by 30 percent next year, bringing it to an estimated $22.33 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, up from $21.51.

Both the commercial and the residential tax rates could change, not only dependent on whether the Select Board shifts the tax rate but also on whether valuations change and whether there’s new growth and whether state aid assumptions hold.

The Select Board last week and the Finance Committee on Tuesday separately approved the budget. Town meeting representatives will vote on the plan at the June 22 annual town meeting.

Warrant articles, including one for $250,000 to lower the tax rate, could total more than $450,000 following the Select Board’s vote on Tuesday. However, they won’t add to the tax burden in fiscal year 2027 as they’re projected to use about $330,000 in free cash and $106,000 in retained wastewater earnings.

Some other things might also have an impact on the bottom line of the budget, particularly potential new hires and the cost of insurance for each of those new employees. Adams is planning to fill three vacancies in high salary brackets — police chief, community development director and finance director / town accountant — as well as several lower profile and lower paying jobs.

At the direction of the Select Board, Caccamo built in the cost of family plan insurance for each of those positions, but he doesn’t know whether the potential new employees will want the highest cost coverage.

In addition, the town is still negotiating with the police union on salaries for a contract that expires on June 30. A clerical union is also negotiating. Hoosac Valley Regional School District is negotiating with teachers as well. Their contract expires June 30, but there’s no expectation that the school district will return for additional money.

McCann’s request is $1.2 million, a 12.53 percent increase over the current year. It includes the first interest payment for a renovation project. Hoosac Valley’s request of $6.8 million represents a 2.93 percent increase over the current year, primarily driven by out-of-district special education costs.

One other major cost driver is the Greylock Glen Outdoor Center, which will cost about $290,000 next year — a slight decrease from the current year. That cost, however, is not entirely borne by taxpayers: 80 percent of the salary of the director, Daniel Doyle, is paid via meal tax receipts.

So taxpayers are on the hook for $212,587, which includes the remaining 20 percent of Doyle's salary.

“It’s ultimately the most complex, intricate building we have in the town, by far and away,” Caccamo said. “It's a fully electric system. There's a full commercial kitchen. Even the HVAC stuff is designed in a way that looks beautiful and wonderful, but is inaccessible without a scissor lift.

“The way the fire suppression system is set up, it's a water tower that feeds the system in the building, requires regular maintenance to ensure that it's working properly,” Caccamo said. “The second anything breaks, it seems to be two to three times more than anywhere else, any other building, so it's an expensive proposition, but it's a valuable community asset.”