By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — 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.
Spring Town Meeting will include 21 warrant articles, including Article 9 that pertains to the town’s fiscal year 2026 operating budget. The Select Board is bringing forward two different operating budgets to Spring Town Meeting. The proposed balanced budget that would include a number of cuts, including reduced services and jobs in the School Department, Lynnfield Public Library and Lynnfield Senior Center, totals $73,075,332.
Additionally, the Select Board will be bringing to the Spring Town Meeting an 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.
“It also addresses school technology for $650,000,” said Town Administrator Rob Dolan during a Town Talk episode. “And after year one when that money is spent, that remains in year two and year three to make sure we can cover the cost of year two and three of the teachers’ contract, historic health insurance increases and all of the inflationary drivers of this deficit to protect us. At the end of the day, what is this override all about? We are one town, but this really is a school-based override. Why did you move to Lynnfield? Well, most people say they moved here for our schools.”
If the larger budget is approved by Town Meeting, a Special Town Election will be held on Wednesday, June 4 to determine the override proposal’s fate.
Dolan recently said that the proposed $4.65 million override would result in an average annual $898.72 tax impact on a house assessed at $1,045,013.
If voters reject the proposed override either at Spring Town Meeting or during the Special Town Election on June 4, the School Department will be forced to lay off 56 employees, the library will be forced to layoff 15 employees and the Lynnfield Senior Center will also be forced to layoff employees. The library would also lose its certification if the override loses.
The Select Board, School Committee and Finance Committee have each unanimously voted to recommend the proposed $4.65 million override.
Article 10 pertains to the town’s $1,197,500 capital budget for FY26. The capital budget includes $300,000 for the Department of Public Works’ road construction program, $70,000 for a new Chevrolet Tahoe SUV for the Fire Department that would serve as a medical vehicle, $60,000 for a police cruiser, $50,000 for drainage improvements and $25,000 for the second year of a five-year school bus lease.
The School Department will be receiving $250,000 for school technology in the FY26 capital budget instead of $650,000 included in the proposed $4.65 million override if the proposal gets voted down during Spring Town Meeting on Tuesday, April 29 and/or a Special Town Election on Wednesday, June 4.
Rail trail articles
Three warrant articles pertaining to the Lynnfield Rail Trail are also headed to Spring Town Meeting due to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) recently deciding to fund Phase 1 of the project in FY26.
Phase 1 of the rail trail, which will be funded by MassDOT’s State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), entails constructing a 1.84-mile recreational trail on the abandoned MBTA rail bed from Ford Avenue by Lynnfield Middle School to Nichols Lane in Peabody.
Article 6 will request Spring Town Meeting to authorize the Select Board to enter into both temporary and permanent lease easement agreements for Phase 1 of the Lynnfield Rail Trail.
According to the warrant, Article 7 will request Spring Town Meeting to accept a portion of Ford Avenue, which is located at the end of Perry Avenue, which has not been accepted as a public way as a public way.
“A small portion of the original layout was not included when the street was accepted,” said then-Select Board Chair Dick Dalton during a recent meeting.
Spring Town Meeting will be asked to approve Article 8, which Assistant Town Administrator Bob Curtin recently said 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, Dalton recently asked Curtin if that “would jeopardize funding from the state?”
“That is correct,” said Curtin.
The Select Board, Finance Committee and Planning Board have each unanimously voted to recommend all three articles related to the Lynnfield Rail Trail.
Additional warrant articles
In addition to the two budget articles and the three rail trail articles, there are 16 remaining articles on the Spring Town Meeting warrant.
Article 5, which was submitted by the Planning Board, will request Spring Town Meeting to amend the Zoning Bylaw’s Flood Plain Overlay District in order to make it in line with the new FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) flood maps.
“We need to do this before July 1 so that people who are in flood zones can obtain flood insurance,” said Curtin.
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.
According to the warrant, 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. Newly appointed Select Board Chair Phil Crawford will be receiving $850 while Dalton and Select Board Vice Chair Alexis Leahy will be getting $700 each. The Board of Assessors chair will receive $4,100 and the other two members will be getting $3,550 each.
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.”
According to the warrant, Article 11 will request Town Meeting to appropriate funds to the Emergency Medical Service Enterprise Fund’s budget.
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 Select Board recently voted to defer making a recommendation on Article 4, 11 and 12 because the appropriations have yet to be finalized.
According to the warrant, 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.
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.”
According to the warrant, 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).”
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 recently said that 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.
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.
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.”