VOTERS patiently wait in line on the Main Street sidewalk by Lynnfield Middle School to get into Spring Town Meeting on April 29. There were 1,218 voters at Spring Town Meeting. (Brenda Carey Photo)
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — A proposed $4.65 million Proposition 2 ½ override is headed to a Special Town Election on Wednesday, June 4 after Spring Town Meeting overwhelming approved it on April 29.
Town Administrator Rob Dolan said Spring Town Meeting was asked to approve two separate operating budgets for fiscal year 2026. He said “Budget 1” is a $73,075,332 balanced budget that includes “significant reductions.”
“The School Department will receive the same amount of money as it received in this year’s budget,” said Dolan. “That is $3.4 million less than has been requested by the schools and approved by the Select Board and the Finance Committee. The library’s funding will be reduced in the balanced budget considerably, and it will result in significant reductions in staffing, hours and a loss of state accreditation. This means Lynnfield residents will no longer have access to services from other libraries as well. There will be substantial reductions in staffing, hours and services at the Senior Center. The (Department of Public Works’) school busing program will be reduced by $200,000. Necessary upgrades to school technology to replace aging and out-of-date equipment will not take place if the $650,000 appropriation for this purpose is eliminated.”
Dolan said Spring Town Meeting was also requested to approve “Budget 2,” which he said is a FY26 Proposition 2 1/2 override-contingent budget that will include raising $4.65 million more in property taxes. The proposed override budget, totaling $77,725,332, seeks to address the town’s $4 million deficit and $650,000 for school technology upgrades and replacements.
The Select Board, School Committee and Finance Committee each unanimously voted to recommend both spending plans. Dolan said the town will implement “Budget 2” if voters approve the override on June 4 and the budget cuts to the School Department, Lynnfield Public Library, Senior Center and the DPW’s school busing program will not occur.
School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy said there are “three main drivers” for the School Department’s recommended 11 percent budget increase for FY26, totaling $34,194,932.
“The first is to hire and retain top teachers and staff,” said Elworthy. “Lynnfield has always prided itself in attracting and retaining the best teachers. Over the past few years, teacher and staff pay in Lynnfield have fallen behind other North Shore districts. In recent years, we have lost excellent teachers to towns like Belmont, Manchester-Essex and other similar districts. The override budget includes the financial resources we need to put our teacher and staff compensation in line with other similar North Shore districts.”
Elworthy said, “The second driver is special education costs.”
“Like all cities and towns, Lynnfield is morally and legally obligated to provide every student with a free and appropriate public education,” said Elworthy. “While every effort is made to meet the learning needs of our students within our district, occasionally we are not able to provide students with the most appropriate educational setting. In these cases, those students’ needs are met out-of-district. Program costs for those are dictated by the state and last year, that cost increase was 14.7 percent. Next year will be 9 percent.”
Elworthy said $650,000 included in the override would upgrade the district’s technology infrastructure and hardware.
“Technology is no longer a nice to have,” said Elworthy. “It is an essential component of the learning process for our students. Teachers are utilizing tech to deliver personalized learning to students and increase teacher effectiveness in the classroom. This override includes a budget for desperately needed upgrades to our infrastructure and software that will allow us to deliver 21st century learning and teaching to our students and, without it, our students will fall behind.”
Elworthy said 56 School Department employees will lose their jobs if voters reject the proposed $4.65 million override.
“The educational excellence of LPS is on the line with your vote,” said Elworthy. “Not moving forward with an override budget for the schools will drastically damage our school system and, in my opinion, render it unrecognizable. I need to be clear that this is not a scenario that may happen without an override. It is a scenario that will happen without an override.”
Superintendent Tom Geary noted during the discussion about “Budget 1” that the 56 layoffs include 26 teachers, 15 paraprofessionals and 15 other staff members.
Elworthy said the School Department’s recommended FY26 budget “does not have any new positions or programming.”
“We have a wonderful staff and we are advocating for retaining our talent,” said Elworthy. “With that said, a failed override will mean the loss of 56 staff members, touching every grade in our district from preschool to grade 12. It means class sizes of 30 students or more across the district, including at every grade at Lynnfield Middle School. We will lose all of our general education interventionists and much of our support staff. We will see the reduction of electives and AP (Advanced Placement) offerings at Lynnfield High School, which allow our students to be competitive for college and post high school opportunities. A failed override will have a direct and immediate impact on our students’ ability to learn.”
Elworthy noted that school districts in other municipalities are dealing with similar financial challenges as Lynnfield Public Schools. She recalled that the town “frequently passed” overrides in the past, with the last one occurring in June 2011.
“If we reject this override budget and lose 56 staff in our small town, we are lowering our standards for students as we will not be able to deliver the teaching and learning required to hold them to the rigorous standards we have today from kindergarten through grade 12,” said Elworthy. “Instead of our tradition of excellence, we will transition to survival. Towns across the state are struggling with decisions about overrides, but Lynnfield has always stood apart in our commitment to education.”
Select Board Chair Phil Crawford said the Lynnfield Public Library and Lynnfield Senior Center will both have “drastic cuts” if voters reject the override.
“It’s very important that we come together on this, pass this override and keep this town the wonderful town that we have built over the last 30 years,” said Crawford.
Stillman Road resident Gary Doyle criticized town officials for potentially cutting the respective budgets for the School Department and the Senior Center if the override gets rejected.
“We are in a position here because the town has overspent,” said Doyle. “The solution you are proposing tonight is to spend more. Spending more is not a way of getting out of spending too much.”
Doyle asked why the “Pay Rate Increase Fund” line item increased from $75,000 in FY25 to $250,000 in FY26. He also inquired why the DPW’s snow and ice budget increased from $120,000 in FY25 to $400,000 in FY26.
Finance Director/Town Accountant David Castellarin said the “Pay Rate Increase Fund” will be funding costs associated with the seven municipal unions on the town side. He said the DPW’s average cost for snow and ice removal over the last four fiscal years totaled $531,000, which he said has required Town Meeting to approve transferring funds to cover that deficit annually. He said the revised snow and ice appropriation seeks to prevent that from occurring in the future.
“The problem isn’t a spending problem. It’s a revenue problem,” added Castellarin. “We only take in $2 million a year in new revenue. The fixed costs for insurance and so forth were over $2 million. That is the problem.”
Former Lynnfield Fire Lt. Richard Ripley asked why the $650,000 for school technology was included in the override and not a debt exclusion.
“It’s going to go to the schools in the first year,” said Castellarin. “It is also going to help us get through the second year for the budget without having another override.”
Ripley said in response: “So it is a slush fund to balance the budget for next year even though it is being voted on for technology?”
Castellarin said the $650,000 will be included in the town’s IT budget that “the schools are going to use if the override passes.”
Patrice Lane resident Patricia Campbell recalled that voters approved the $18 million elementary schools’ expansion project in December 2020 and the $63.5 million public safety and Town Hall project in December 2022. She also noted that Lynnfield Center Water District (LCWD) ratepayers approved the $20.5 million capital program in two separate votes.
“If we have an override, for the average assessed home it will be $898 in your tax bill,” said Campbell. “Don’t vote for override if you don’t want to pay the freight.”
During the discussion about “Budget 1,” Campbell criticized the Select Board for giving Dolan raises the last several fiscal years. Dolan’s salary will be $226,601 in FY26.
“I don’t think they are spending carefully at all,” said Campbell.
Campbell also asked why the FY26 line item budget did not include DPW Director John Scenna’s salary.
Castellarin said Scenna’s salary is paid by the LCWD as part of a regionalization agreement with the town.
“So do you mean to tell me that those of us in the Lynnfield Center Water District are paying his salary and the rest of the people in the town aren’t?” inquired a livid Campbell.
Castellarin said in response: “They pay the full salary and we pay a portion of that salary to them. It’s $113,000 including benefits.”
Scenna informed that the Villager that his salary totals $206,045.75.
Townsend Road resident Michael Walsh asked if the Senior Tax Work-Off program will still be available for seniors who meet the program’s qualifications if the override is approved.
Castellarin said yes.
Conservation Commission member Erin Hohmann asked if the town employees who have already been laid off will get their jobs back if the override is approved.
While Dolan said the override will reinstate certain positions if voters approve it, he said the other layoffs that have already occurred will be “permanent.”
If voters approve the override on June 4, Geary said the School Department “would restore all of the positions, pending successful contract negotiations.”
“We feel that we have estimated a very, very reasonable number on where we anticipate it should come in,” said Geary.
During the discussion about “Budget 2,” Edward Avenue resident Stephanie Couey moved the question, which was seconded and overwhelmingly approved by Spring Town Meeting.
Voters overwhelmingly approved sending the $4.65 million to the Special Town Election on a voice vote. The meeting’s attendees applauded the vote outcome, and a number of voters left after Article 9 was approved.