When voters head to the polls in the Lynnfield High School gym during the Special Town Election on Wednesday, June 4, we encourage townspeople to take a deep breath and vote “Yes” for the proposed $4.65 million override.
Spring Town Meeting approved two separate budgets for fiscal year 2026 in late April. The proposed balanced budget that would include a number of cuts, including reduced services and jobs in the School Department, totals $73,075,332.
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.
Town Administrator Rob Dolan recently said that the pro- posed $4.65 million override would result in an average annual $898.72 tax impact on a house assessed at $1,045,013
The Select Board, School Committee and Finance Commit- tee have each unanimously voted to recommend the proposed $4.65 million override. The Villager agrees with all three boards’ recommendation.
The Villager does not take endorsing a proposed permanent tax increase lightly, especially during a challenging economic time with rising costs continuing to drain people’s wallets. The Villager also recognizes that this endorsement comes in wake of voters approving the $18 million elementary schools’ expansion project in December 2020 and the $63.5 million public safety and Town Hall project in December 2022. Lynnfield Center Water District ratepayers also approved the $20.5 million capital program in two separate votes.
Dolan said during a recent Select Board meeting that the town has a “revenue problem” and “not a spending problem,” which is correct. He said a number of factors have caused the $4 mil- lion budget deficit, including the Group Insurance Commission (GIC) recently approving a 13 percent health insurance increase for FY26. The town is also dealing with contractual increases, including the yet to be finalized contract between the School Committee and the Lynnfield Teachers Association.
Rising pension costs, increasing property/casualty insurance, flat state aid, rising energy costs, increasing special education tuition costs and limited new growth have also contributed to the $4 million deficit.
The town and the School Department have no control over most of these rising costs and the only solution to controlling them is to either lay off employees and cut programs or increase property taxes.
Similar to the town, the state is also facing a challenging economic situation in light of the federal government cutting a number of agencies’ budgets.
If voters reject the proposed override during the Special Town Election on June 4, the School Department will be forced to lay off 56 employees, the Lynnfield Public Library will be forced to lay off 15 employees and the Lynnfield Senior Center will also be forced to reduce staff. When coupled with the two Department of Public Works employees who have already been laid off, equaling over 75 employees in an already tight school/municipal operation when it comes to staffing.
The schools, library and Senior Center will be completely decimated if the override gets rejected and the community, particularly students, will suffer as a result.
While the Villager is endorsing the proposed $4.65 million override, we do wish local officials handled the FY26 budget process differently.
It’s important to remember that the vast majority of people are primarily focused on their family and professional responsibilities as op- posed to municipal and school finances. While school officials were correct in stating that the budget crisis was “not a surprise” and was a long time coming, the schools’ $3,388,698 deficit did catch many residents off-guard.
In our view, the School Committee and Superintendent Tom Geary should have had a more robust discussion about the district’s financial challenges, especially the technology issues, last fall as opposed to this past winter. If those conversations happened sooner, the confusion that has occurred over the last several months could have been avoided.
It’s important to note that Dolan was forced to wait until late February before announcing the $4 million deficit due to the projected FY26 state budget local aid appropriations being released and the GIC approving the 13 percent increase for health insurance. Municipal officials across the state find out state aid and health insurance appropriations each winter.
However, we do wish the Select Board kept in mind other looming unknown factors in the FY26 budget process such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) $1,199,469.08 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant awarded to the Fire Department last fall. The grant is being used to pay for the full cost of salaries and benefits of four career firefighter positions for three years in order to improve response times. Time will tell if FEMA continues funding that grant or if the Trump administration pulls the plug on it. Stay tuned.
Regardless of what has happened in the past, the time to act is now. The state and federal governments are not going to bail the town out of this crisis, and it’s going to be up to residents to solve it themselves.
Vote “Yes” on the proposed $4.65 million Proposition 2 1⁄2 override during the Special Town Election on June 4.