HANSON – Officials in both Whitman, which has held two public informational forums this week, with one more planned – and in Hanson, where a second forum was held Thursday morning, two days after its first forum Tuesday night.
Hanson’s final override informational forum will be held at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 30, again at Hanson Middle School.
Town officials held the first of three planned informational forums concerning the $3 million operational override for the fiscal 2026 budget. The next one will be held at 9 a.m., April 24 in the Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center, which operates out of the building it shares with the Hanson Public Library at Maquan and School Street.
“Hanson is asking for a $3 million increase in the tax levy,” said Town Administrator Lisa Green. “What this [override] does is allow the hiring of four additional firefighters. … It allows for a sustainable budget by eliminating the [the need to use all the free cash to balance budgets]of $1.061 million in free cash, which helps our bond rate.”
“It’s a big ask, it’s a heavy lift,” Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We know that. We don’t take this lightly at all, but the dire circumstances of what could happen if we do not ask for this are something we felt would be irresponsible if we didn’t ask for this override.
“But, again, it’s up to the voters at Town Meeting and its up to people at the ballot,” she said.
A woman from Lakeside road asked why the override had not been advertised sooner.
“There’s hardly anyone here tonight and this forum wasn’t posted until the other day,” she said. “A lot of people do not use computers and some don’t even look at the newspaper. This is very important to the town to come together and find out how all of you are working to get our budget under control.”
“Other than newspapers, Facebook, online, volunteer people that are trying to get the information out every single week – I don’t know what else we can do,” Select Board Vice Chair Ann Rein said. “If you’re that passionate about it, please come and get involved. We are not trying to hide anything from anybody.”
It also gives the town better credit rating when the town has to borrow. Article 5 on the Town Meeting warrant is the non-override budget and Article 6 is the budget including an override. The ballot question on the override will appear on the Saturday, May 17 ballot.
“The better your credit, the lower your interest rates,” she said. “This will avert all reductions in services.”
The cost of no
Among those proposed reductions which would be negated with the override would be:
- Approximately $940,000 for the W-H Regional School District;
- $130,000 for the facilities manager and internet technology;
- The loss of $160,000 would mean the loss of one police officer and a firefighter;
- $130,000 for facilities manager and IT for the town;
- $160,000 in public safety cuts eliminates one police officer and one firefighter;
- $216,000 means three needed police cruisers;
- $73,000 eliminates one full-time Highway Department position; and other expenses, which incudes snow and ice removal, road grader;
- $27,000 cut would mean a reduction in transportation hours;
- $49,000 cut from the Health budget; Council on Aging, library funding.
The town website’s budget pages feature a budget calculator with which residents calculate the impact an override could affect them and how many overrides have passed.
“There’s a lot of chatter out there about all the overrides Hanson has asked for over the years,” Green said. “The town has asked for and received a number of overrides, many have been for the schools, some for the general operation – a majority of them under laws that meant basically, not passed.”
During the session, which lasted about 40 minutes, moderated by Town Administrator Lisa Green. She was joined by Town Accountant Eric Kinsherf, School Committee Vice Chair Hillary Kniffen, Fire Chief Robert O’Brien Jr., Police Chief Michel Miksch, Highway Director Richard Jasmin, Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, Vice Chair Ann Rein and members Ed Heal and Joe Weeks.
“This forum is information only, for questions regarding the override,” Green told those attending. “This is not a forum for arguing or providing your opinion for or against an override. That is for Town Meeting, and that is found at the Town Election.”
“We’re looking back to 1989 here, so it’s important to note that, if we look back to 2005, there’s been three overrides have passed,” Which can counter the old argument,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. Information available from the state on these points is data-based.
Handouts containing updated town budgetary documents, including tax relief program for seniors and veterans were made available as well as information from the school district and the survey, which closes by the end of the week. Results of the Bridgewater State University override survey will be discussed at the Tuesday, April 29 Select board meeting.
The program began with the basics.
The town is allowed by law to increase its tax levy – the amount of taxes a town can assess and collect from town residents – by 2.5 percent each year. Any new taxable development can also be added to that number. Only town residents can override that levy limit.
Town revenue sources are taxes on real estate and personal property, state aid sources, local program reimbursements, local receipts such as meals taxes, motor vehicle excise taxes and investment income free cash, stabilization, permit and license fees,
“Hanson is funded predominantly with property taxes,” Green said of tax information handed out. Those property taxes make up 85 percent of Hanson’s operating revenue. Local receipts make up 9 percent, and local aid is down to 6 percent.
Where the fiscal 2026 town budget is concerned, general government – mainly the offices working in Town Hall – make up 7 percent of the annual budget. Fire and police – public safety services is 26 percent of Hanson’s budget. But there is some financial “sunshine,” in the town’s low debt percentage of just 1 percent. Employment benefits make up 16 percent of the budget.
Library and recreational services make up only 2 percent of the budget, and human services – the Council on Aging and Board of Health makes up 1 percent of the budget expenses for Hanson. Public Works is 5 percent of Hanson’s budget.
Education costs comprise 48 percent of Hanson’s budget in fiscal ’26.
The forum then took questions from those attending, WHCA-TV was recording the session last night, but was not live streaming. The forum will be posted on YouTube and rebroadcast on the Hanson government access channel in a few days.
Kinsherf answered one resident’s question about the permanence of 2.5 percent increases in the levy. He said that does indeed compound each year.
A resident of Lakeside road sought assurance that the override would mean services to private roads will continue under an override, so home values would not be impacted by a lack of road maintenance.
FitzGerald-Kemmett assured him that, with an override, such road maintenance will continue.
What departments need
Green then handed the microphone to Kniffen, O’Brien an Miksch for closing thoughts.
“It’s important to note that the schools are just asking for a level-services budget,” Kniffen said. “We are not asking to add any programs or any more services for students, but just maintain what we have.”
Fire Chief O’Brien said his department is asking for something in the fiscal 2026 budget.
“Last year, we had over 900 runs” he said. “It was simultaneous calls in the town of Hanson. Right now, almost 50 percent of the calls that we do are simultaneous calls. … So what we’re looking for four firefighter/paramedics to be hired.”
As soon as they can get the second ambulance on the road, that gives the department another ambulance on the road to answer emergency calls until the advanced life support ambulance, which requires a crew of four returns from a hospital.
Police Chief Miksch pointed to the changes in policing during his 30 years on the job.
“What am I asking for? My status quo,” he said. “I don’t want to lose any officers. For the first time since COVID, we’re fully staffed. If I’m not fully staffed that means less officers on the road.”
The time on a call is a lot longer today, as officers are responsible for a lot more things.
The Highway Department is also looking to be fully staffed, avoiding the expense of contracting out work a fully staffed department would not need to use.
Senior Center Director Mary Collins said the center’s ability to bring back the adult supportive day program, which will be able to return to offering services five daya a week when the new modular unit arrives next month.
“We’re a small department,” she said, noting it takes up only four-tenths of 1 percent (.4 percent) of the town budget. “We rarely ask for more than that, knowing that we have other departments that are in need.
Collins, too, is seeking level funding — which in her department’s case is only $12,000.