By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The Select Board unanimously voted to close the Spring Town Meeting warrant during an April 8 meeting.
Spring Town Meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 29, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Lynnfield Middle School auditorium. A quorum of 175 voters is needed for Town Meeting to proceed.
Assistant Town Administrator Bob Curtin gave an overview of the 21-article warrant. He said Article 9 headlines the warrant, which will ask Spring Town Meeting to approve the recommended fiscal year 2026 operating budget.
The Select Board will be bringing forward two different operating budgets to Spring Town Meeting on April 29. The proposed balanced budget that would include a number of cuts including reduced services and jobs in the School Department, totals $73,075,332.
Additionally, the Select Board will be bringing forward to the Spring Town Meeting 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.
If the larger budget is approved by Town Meeting, a Special Town Election will be held to determine the ultimate override proposal’s fate.
Curtin said Article 10 pertains to the town’s $1,197,500 capital budget for FY26.
Rail trail articles
In addition to the proposed budgets for FY26, Curtin said three warrant articles pertaining to the Lynnfield Rail Trail are headed to Spring Town Meeting.
Curtin said Article 6 will request Spring Town Meeting to authorize the Select Board to “enter into lease easement agreements, temporary and permanent, for the construction of the trail along the pathway designated.”
Additionally, Curtin said Article 7 will request Spring Town Meeting to accept a portion of Ford Avenue that has not been accepted as a public way as a public way.
“It is a stub that backs up to the middle school,” said Curtin.
Curtin said Article 8 will “dedicate an unused portion of land on the Lynnfield Middle School property to the rail trail.”
“It runs behind the fields and is an important connector,” said Curtin.
If Spring Town Meeting votes to reject the rail trail articles, Select Board Chair Dick Dalton asked Curtin if that “would jeopardize funding from the state?”
“That is correct,” said Curtin.
Additional warrant articles
The Planning Board submitted Article 5, which will ask Spring Town Meeting to amend the Zoning Bylaw’s Flood Plain Overlay District.
“This would change the town’s zoning map to make it conform with the new FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) flood maps,” said Curtin. “We need to do this before July 1 so that people who are in flood zones can obtain flood insurance.”
Curtin said Article 1 will ask Spring Town Meeting to approve the annual Town Report. Article 2 will choose all town officers “not required to be chosen by ballot,” which are three field drivers, one pound keeper and three wood measurers.
“Those are holdovers from Colonial days,” said Curtin about Article 2.
Curtin said Article 3 will request Town Meeting to approve the salaries for the Board of Assessors and the Select Board, which are the only boards in town that get paid. The Select Board chair will be receiving $850 while the other two Select Board members will be getting $700 each. The Board of Assessors chair will receive $4,100 and the other two members will be getting $3,550.
“This is about the small stipend paid to this board and more to the Board of Assessors,” said Curtin.
According to the warrant, Article 4 will ask Spring Town Meeting to “vote to raise and appropriate or appropriate by transfer from available funds, sums of money to supplement certain accounts in the current 2025 fiscal year budget where balances are below projected expenditures for various reasons.”
“The town’s finance director will be working with department heads on that in the coming days,” said Curtin.
Curtin said Article 11 will request Town Meeting to appropriate funds to the Emergency Medical Service Enterprise Fund’s budget. He said Article 12 will request Town Meeting to allocate funds from “Golf Enterprise receipts and/or Golf Enterprise Retained Earnings to pay expenses and contractual services required to operate the Reedy Meadow Golf Course and King Rail Golf Course.”
“The money comes in through the fees attached to these services,” said Curtin about Articles 11 and 12. “It is budgeted and used by those services.”
Curtin said Article 13 will set spending limits for the town’s revolving funds. The limit for the Council on Aging’s revolving fund totals $175,000. The Board of Health’s revolving fund’s limit is $15,000. The Lynnfield Public Library’s revolving fund limit totals $15,000. Lynnfield Recreation’s revolving fund limit equals $475,000. The DPW’s fields’ revolving fund limit totals $100,000. The DPW’s revolving fund limit for the Al Merritt Media and Cultural Center is $10,000, and the Tree Replacement Fund is $10,000.
“These come into various departments for activities and various uses,” said Curtin. “We have to set a maximum expenditure on each. We are moving some of these up because programming has become more robust in some of our departments.”
According to the warrant, Article 14 will request Spring Town Meeting to accept Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 32B, Section 20 that would allow the town to “establish an Other Post-Employment Benefits Liability Trust Fund (OPEB Fund), effective immediately.”
Article 15 will request that Spring Town Meeting vote to “appropriate or transfer from available funds a sum of money into the Other Post-Employment Benefits Liability Trust Fund (OPEB Fund).”
According to the warrant, Article 16 will ask Spring Town Meeting to accept the provisions of a state law that will allow “trust funds to be invested in accordance with General Laws Chapter 203C, the so-called Prudent Investment Rule.”
Curtin said Finance Director/Town Accountant Dave Castellarin recommended that Articles 14, 15 and 16 be included on the warrant.
“(Castellarin) feels these three articles will allow him more flexibility and will allow us to follow prudent investment rules,” said Curtin.
Curtin said Article 17 seeks to amend the General Bylaws by making changes to the Inspectional Services Department’s fee schedule for commercial buildings.
“This increases our commercial building fee to come up to a number that is similar to other communities,” said Curtin. “Generally, this isn’t a fee paid by residents. It is paid by people building commercial development here.”
Curtin said Article 18 will seek to update the General Bylaws in regards to fees issued by the Town Clerk’s Office.
“The town clerk has added certain fees that were never codified before,” said Curtin. “She has reorganized them into sensible categories.”
Curtin said Article 19 will request Spring Town Meeting to amend the General Bylaws’ Select Board fees.
“There is only one change for restaurant liquor licenses, as the fee has not increased in at least 40 years,” said Curtin. “We moved some fees that were in the town clerk schedule to our schedule.”
Curtin said Article 20 pertains to the Board of Health’s fees.
“It increases a couple of them, and organizes them in a much better format,” said Curtin.
Curtin said Article 21 pertains to the Zoning Board of Appeals’ fees, which he said will be increasing slightly.
“These are being raised slightly because we are facing growing costs due to advertising these hearings,” said Curtin. “These keep pace with what other communities have done.”
Reaction
After Curtin gave an overview of the Spring Town Meeting, the Select Board unanimously voted to recommend 17 out of the 21 warrant articles.
The Select Board voted to defer making a recommendation on Article 4 (FY25 transfers), Article 11 (EMS Enterprise Fund) and Article 12 (Golf Enterprise Fund) because those appropriations have yet to be finalized.