By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Town Administrator Rob Dolan recommended a $5 million Proposition 2 ½ override for fiscal year 2026 during the Select Board’s March 20 meeting.
Dolan said $4 million would be used to close an operating budget deficit facing the town, which is primarily impacting Lynnfield Public Schools. He said the remaining $1 million will be used for school technology expenses in order to replace aging infrastructure and address hardware needs.
“The average annual impact per house in Lynnfield assessed at $1,0445,013 is $971.86,” said Dolan.
Dolan explained that “Proposition 2 ½ allows a community to assess taxes in excess of the automatic annual 2.5 percent increase.”
“When an override is passed, the levy limit for the first year is calculated by including the amount of the override,” said Dolan. “This creates a significant revenue adjustment in year one. In subsequent years, an override results in a permanent increase in the levy limit of a community. This new levy base increases at the rate of 2.5 percent each year after the initial first-year jump.”
Dolan informed the Villager that a balanced budget that would include a number of cuts and an override budget for FY26 will both be presented at Spring Town Meeting on Tuesday, April 29.
“Local government is the only government in the United States that must have a balanced budget that is audited independently and by the state,” said Dolan during the Select Board’s meeting.
If the override does not pass, Dolan said a number of budget cuts will occur. Superintendent Tom Geary said during the Finance Committee’s March 19 meeting that the district “would need to reduce our budget ask between $2.5 million and $3 million if the override does not pass.”
“In the last few days, I was told it would be greater than that,” said Geary. “The schools would get a zero percent increase. It would result in massive layoffs that would greatly damage our efforts to provide a high-quality educational experience for our students. There is no way around it.”
Dolan said approving the override would restore the School Department’s budget by $3,3,88,698. If the override fails, he said school budget would be level-funded in FY26, and the district would receive “exactly what they received” this fiscal year.
The override will restore $200,000 to the Department of Public Works’ (DPW) school bus transportation program, which Dolan said will be reduced if the override does not get approved.
Finance Director/Town Accountant Dave Castellarin informed the Villager that the School Department will be receiving $250,000 for school technology in the FY26 capital budget instead of the $1 million included in the override if voters reject the plan.
“The $1 million for school technology would be a one-time payment in the first year,” said Castellarin. “The schools would have a couple of years to spend it.”
Dolan said during the Select Board’s meeting that the override “takes into account future school needs.”
“That doesn’t mean a whole lot of new positions, but it means we will able to maintain what we have now and advance,” said Dolan. “The foundation of this override is what makes Lynnfield the premier suburban community on the North Shore, what has been a source of generational pride and what this town is known for: The outstanding Lynnfield Public Schools. That is at the heart of this override.”
Dolan said approving the override would prevent the Library Public Library’s operating budget from being cut by $261,318.
“That will mean a cut in hours and the library will lose its state accreditation,” said Dolan. “We will apply for a waiver, but the state has rules regarding how much we have to fund and we will not meet that funding.”
Dolan also said approving the override would prevent the Lynnfield Senior Center’s operating budget from being cut by $149,984. If the override does not get approved, Dolan said the Senior Center will be open for fewer hours and fewer days.
While Dolan said the library and the Senior Center are “incredibly important,” he said local officials are looking to “protect schools, fire, police, general public safety and the DPW.”
“Every department is going to be impacted in some way,” said Dolan.
Dolan recalled that the Fire Department received the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant Program from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) last fall. The grant has been used to pay for the salaries and benefits of four additional career firefighters, but Dolan informed the Villager that there are concerns about the grant’s future due to the federal government’s various agencies’ budgets being cut. As a result, $200,000 included in the override would fund two of the firefighters’ positions.
“We are asking the citizens to cover two of those firefighters now, which will allow us to run two pieces of equipment every night that must be the minimum in this town,” said Dolan. “What will happen to the other two firefighters will be considered in a few years.”
Dolan also said the override would appropriate $800,000 to prepare for the DPW’s next trash collection contract.
“We are talking to a lot of different communities about their new trash contracts, and they are coming in at $800,000 to a $1.5 million more than previously,” said Dolan. “Although we have a contract for two years, at minimum we will see an $800,000 increase in trash. If we do not include this, we will create another major problem in two years.”
Layoffs, reductions announced
In order to close the budget deficit on the town side, Dolan said there were town employees who were laid off on March 20.
“We had to make very difficult decisions that hurt very good people,” said Dolan. “These are permanent layoffs. We had to make hard decisions this current fiscal year to put us in a better position for next year.”
In addition to $261,318 potentially being cut from the library’s operating budget, Dolan said the library’s staff and operations have been reduced as well. He also said the Senior Center’s staff has been reduced in addition to the $149,984 that would be cut if the override fails.
Dolan said DPW Director John Scenna reorganized his department, and there were employees who were laid off on March 20.
Additionally, Dolan said the town has offered an “early retirement incentive” to department heads and unionized employees.
“People who might be on the cusp of retirement want to take this retirement package, thus allowing us to hire a new person at a significantly lower cost or not replace that job,” said Dolan.
Dolan also said the town will be offering an insurance opt-out and incentive program for municipal employees this week.
“We will pay individuals cash to leave our insurance program,” said Dolan. “The average family plan is almost $30,000 per person. If someone has an option to be on a spouse’s or another insurance plan, that will certainly save us money. We certainly want to share that benefit with them as an incentive.”
While Lynnfield Recreation’s budget is primarily funded by user fees, Dolan said Director Jimmy Olsen’s salary and a line item for expenses has been removed from the town’s current FY25 operating budget. He said Lynnfield Recreation will be turned into a “self-funded operation.”
“I believe our director is up to the challenge, but if he cannot run programming that not only services the community but pays his salary, we will not have a Recreation Department,” said Dolan. “It can be done, and he has done it before. He is going to be innovative and entrepreneurial.”
Dolan and Golf Director Donnie Lyons have begun discussing “privatization models” for the town’s two golf courses that would have a private company run both town-owned courses. He informed the Villager that the town will not be selling the courses.
Additionally, Dolan said town officials are exploring potential new regionalization agreements with other communities. He has also requested department heads to reduce operating budgets by 2 percent. A spending freeze will also go into effect on April 1.
Dolan said, “It would be easy for the Select Board and myself to take a chunk out of the Stabilization Fund (rainy day fund) and use it as a one-time revenue source to maybe limit a bit of this pain.”
“But what you are doing is turning a crisis into a catastrophe for our budget by using one-time revenue that does not exist for next year by using it for operating expenses,” said Dolan. “It is the equivalent to using your credit card to pay for your mortgage.”
The last Proposition 2½ override that Lynnfield residents voted on and subsequently approved occurred in June 2011.
After the Select Board weighed in on the $5 million operating budget override proposal (see separate story), the Select Board unanimously voted to send the proposed FY26 operating and capital budgets to a public hearing that will take place on Monday, March 31, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Al Merritt Media and Cultural Center.