Voter Information

Voter Information To Support the Override Budget:

We support the approval of Articles 1, 2, and 3, which is the three-year strategy recommended by the Select Board, Finance Committee and School Committee. The information we have (known contract increases, historical expected revenue) projects a $10.1M shortfall over FY25-26-27. The override asks residents for $6.8M to support staff and services, and the Town/Schools are committed to looking for efficiencies and making reductions of $3.3M.

Summary of Articles 1-4 -- Vote YES on Articles 1, 2, 3! Our Town/School Services need the full 3-yr strategy to continue to thrive!

• Article 1 (Requires Simple Majority) - Approval of the FY25 Override Budget. This is a permanent tax increase of $4.2M to balance the FY25 deficit. If it fails, the Town and Schools will make $4.2M of reductions, likely including 50.4 Instructional School Staff (classroom teachers, interventionists, literacy specialists, etc) and 9.3 Town Staff (police, fire, dispatch, Sustainability Coordinator, DPW operator, etc)

• Article 2 (Requires 2/3 Majority) - Creates an Override Stabilization Fund, the mechanism for holding funds separate from other uses, and those funds can ONLY be spent with future Town Meeting approval. If it fails, the Fund would not be created, and Article 3 would be dismissed since there is no mechanism to hold the money. Without these funds, FY26 will continue to have a projected deficit of $3.9M with FY27 an additional $1.9M deficit. 

• Article 3 (Requires Simple Majority) - Approves a further permanent tax increase for the additional $2.6M of the override and places the first year (FY25) of these funds into the Stabilization Fund. If it fails, FY26 deficit is $3.9M and FY27 deficit is $1.9M.

  • In FY26 and beyond, the $2.6M becomes part of the recurring tax revenue to help FY26+ deficits.

  • Town and Schools also project making $1.8M of reductions and efficiencies *even with an approved $6.8M override* to share the responsibility and accountability of this challenge.

Note: There will likely be attempts (motions) to amend each of these articles along the way.  If seconded, those amendments would also have votes. We would encourage you Vote NO on any amendments of these Articles.  

• Article 4 (Requires Simple Majority) - Approves the no-override balanced FY25 budget with the constraints of Proposition 2 1/2. Although this is not the funding we are advocating for, it is responsible to have this approved so that we have a budget to start the fiscal year on July 1.

Why not ask for a lower override amount or just solve one year at a time?

• There are known cost increases in multi-year contracts, so only fixing FY25 leaves future large deficits that can not be solved quickly enough with efficiencies or new revenue, leading to significant budget gaps requiring service/staff reductions ($3.9M in FY26 and additional $1.9M in FY27).

• Solving only the immediate FY25 deficit also has a detrimental effect to our staff morale and stability as well as creating an uncertain and unstable planning environment.