Plainfield Select Board Sets Broadband Manager Pay at $12,000, Advances Town Meeting Budget

PLAINFIELD — March 24, 2026 — Plainfield Select Board approves $12,000 pay for broadband manager as stabilization fund nears its goal. The board, sitting as the Municipal Light Plant board, voted unanimously Tuesday to set Broadband Manager Kimberly Longley's annual compensation at $12,000 and to recommend that town meeting add $43,880 in prior-year surplus to the broadband stabilization fund, which would bring the balance to $370,762 — just $29,138 short of its $400,000 cap. Longley also presented a proposed $343,000 break-even operating budget for fiscal year 2027, projecting a current-year surplus of up to $53,000 from the department's 293 customers, with expenses running below budget largely because the town avoided a major weather event that drove repair costs to nearly $20,000 in fiscal year 2024. "The objective of the broadband department is to serve its rate payers," Longley told the board, noting that once the stabilization fund is fully capitalized, options for excess revenue will include rate reductions or accelerating repayment of town-held broadband debt projected to retire by 2030.