by John Osborn ·
Friday, May 1, 2026
Passing the town’s fiscal 2027 budget requires two separate votes—one at Town Meeting and one at the polls—and both must pass by a majority vote.
On Saturday, May 2, voters at Annual Town Meeting will be asked to approve a $36.7 million operating budget for fiscal year 2027, but to fully fund it, voters must also pass Ballot Question 1 at Town Election on Tuesday, May 5, a Proposition 2½ override of $135,370. Both steps are necessary. If Town Meeting voters fail to pass Article 7—the budget—the ballot question is moot. If Article 7 passes and the Question 1 override fails, the town must remove seven items from the budget that the override would have paid for.
State law limits how much a town can raise through property taxes each year—no more than 2.5% above the prior year’s levy, plus an allowance for new construction. A Proposition 2½ override is a voter-approved exception that permanently raises that levy limit by a specific dollar amount. Unlike a debt exclusion, a temporary increase tied to a single project, an override raises the base permanently.
According to an override calculator provided by the Department of Revenue, passing the $135,370 override would add approximately $64 to the annual tax bill for a home assessed at the town average of $918,796. The tax rate would increase by 7 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.
The override pays for the following seven items, which the Select Board chose to protect rather than cut:
- Community and economic development director salary: $30,000
- Finance Department receptionist: $10,700
- Board of Health additional hours: $8,838
- Tree warden expenses: $10,000
- School supplies for Hildreth Elementary and Bromfield School: $38,000
- Intervention services for students at Hildreth Elementary: $34,568
- Employee benefits: $3,264.
The $34,568 for intervention services at Hildreth replaces a federal Title I grant the district had counted on but lost; rather than cut the tutors and reading specialists who serve struggling students, the board folded the cost into the override.
The $38,000 for school supplies covers materials used throughout the school day at both Hildreth and Bromfield: writing materials, workbooks, and testing materials, as well as supplies for specialist classes including art, library, and gym. If the override fails, Superintendent Linda Dwight said, the schools would need to cut that amount from their materials and supplies budgets. “Teachers and students will be impacted,” she said.
The community and economic development director position is already budgeted at $99,000; the override adds $30,000 to make the salary more competitive. The Select Board and Finance Committee disagreed over whether to fill the opening at all. At its February budget retreat, the board rejected FinCom’s recommendation to cut the job’s hours to 19 a week, which would have saved $50,000. Instead, the board went the other direction, adding $30,000 to the budgeted salary to make the position more competitive. The Select Board members want a director who can focus on commercial and economic development while supporting the Planning Board’s ongoing needs. This week, interim Town Administrator Dawn Dunbar reported that she had narrowed the field to three finalists.
The Select Board vowed at the start of this year’s budget cycle to avoid an override entirely. Select Board member Eve Wittenberg said she came to support an override after working through every budget line. “I feel very comfortable with this budget,” she said, “acknowledging that it’s a reasonably small override request for the town.” Her colleagues agreed, endorsing the package unanimously in March.
Annual Town Meeting is Saturday, May 2, at 10 a.m. in the Bromfield School Cronin Auditorium. The Town Election is Tuesday, May 5. Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Hildreth Elementary School gym.