WHITMAN – Any override to help resolve the town’s budget should be one to level-service departments as the Select Board should also the difference between a one-year override and a multi-year override. The Select Board intends to delve into the issue deeper when they meet with the Finance Committee on Tuesday, Jan. 21.
“I’m kind of leaning – just my own personal opinion – that we should consider simply a one-year override, the major variable being the hold-harmless situation that the schools’ [are] in,” said Select Board member Shawn Kain. “It’s very difficult to predict out [and it] has a major impact on the town’s finances.”
While the town is not in a deficit now – it was able to balance the books this past year, Kain noted – projections put the fiscal 2026 budget at “a little bit of a deficit.”
“That’s the gap we have to keep our current services,” he said. “Each year our books have to be balanced” between costs vs. revenues coming in.
He added that is a difficult to calculate specifics because the numbers from the state are so difficult to compute effectively, said Kain, who provided a to the Select Board on Tuesday, Jan. 7. Kain, indicated that what he had in mind was, a “bit more of a quick discussion, or at least the start of a discussion.”.
“It wouldn’t be a great scenario if we looked for a three-year override and we came out of [hold-harmless] early,” Kain said. “That would mean, in a sense, we’ve asked for more money than we kind of needed, and I don’t think the town would appreciate that.”
Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski said that appraisal of the situation was correct.
“It doesn’t feel good to say, ‘Hey, we’re asking for a small override and it might be the case that, to hold onto services next year, we’d also have to have an override,’” he said. “But it does feel like the right thing to do.”
“Take it a year at a time,” Kowalski agreed.
Hold-harmless is a provision that ensures school districts receive at least the same amount of aid from one year to the next and can include supplemental funding for districts with declining enrollment. Calculating state aid amounts based on past enrollments and ensuring that all districts receive at least a minimum amount of aid, plus additional per-pupil funding.
He explained that the town could be in hold-harmless for a year or two before emerging from it, or it could be for the next three years, or even just for this year, if the town starts to pull out of it, according to Kain,
Without updated numbers since the presentation he provided at the last budget meeting, he suggested a discussion of the type of the override Whitman is considering.
Finance Chair Kathleen Ottina has said her board is interested in meeting with the Select Board on Tuesday, Jan. 21, according to Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter.
“The obvious [question] being, should this be an override where department heads should consider new services or opportunities to add the things that they’ve been hoping to add over the last five years,” Kain said. “We’ve been asking them to hold off, so that when we put forth the override there’ll be not just be level-service, but … some additional things as well, or should we set the directive that the override that we’re really looking to create is one where we’re just trying to get by. What we’re looking for is not to add an additional financial burden on the people of the town, given the climate with debt that’s going to be added to the rolls.”
Kain, putting himself in department heads’ position, said, “If I knew an override was coming, it might be my opportunity to put in the things that I haven’t been able to get over the last five years that I couldn’t get,” he said. “Which is understandable. But, from my opinion, I don’t think that should be the case.”
Kain argued that, if residents are going to be asked to sacrifice for the town by way of higher taxes, it’s very important that the town demonstrate the sacrifices it is making.
“I think that’s going to be a critical component this year, in particular,” he said. “If people think that we’re adding one more thing and they feel like their taxes are going up that much more, it’s a bad kind of vibe, and a message that’s difficult to stand behind.”
But, he argued if the town can show they are making every effort to get by and in as efficient a way as possible without losing services while asking for more of a tax contribution, that would be a more acceptable message.
“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Kowalski said, “You’re right.”
“One hundred percent,” agreed Select Board member Laura Howe.
“It also should be clear that the override is not specifically dedicated to one department or another,” Kowalski said. “It’s an overall town override because we need some money to keep our services steady, if not exuberant.”
Carter said most of the department heads have submitted their budgets and she has begun scheduling meetings with them individually on their budget submissions.
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci said the board should wait until the final budget bottom line is apparent before they decide if an override is necessary or how much of an override is necessary.
“I don’t want to go for a $3 million override, let’s say, and all of a sudden the budget comes in $1 million more than we need or .. the budget comes in lower, the department heads say, ‘Well, then I want to add this, add this, add this,’” he argued.
Kain agreed, noting that as they file final budgets, the overall aim is to just get by and not adding new items.
Select Board member Justin Evans suggested a multi-year override be considered because of a pension obligation expected to “fall off the books” within about five years.
“It should get us to that point when we see more revenue staying in-house, rather than going to the county to cover pension obligations,” he said. “Also, we really need to be having this conversation both with the school district and with Hanson because, looking at a townwide override including the schools, their budget only works if Hanson also funds it.”
Evans pointed out that Hanson is also considering an override, but added it wasn’t clear if it was planned as a one-year or multi-year override.
“There should be some coordination here so we’re all on the same page,” he said. “Otherwise, the district gets a half-funded override.”
Resident Bob Kimball reminded the board that an override is “going to be tough for a lot of people in town,” noting that in his neighborhood on Auburnville Way, there has been one bankruptcy this year as well as on person who has moved out of town and two or three people with reverse mortgages so they can pay their bills.
“If we’re going to do an override, I want to make sure that the [Select Board], the Finance Committee, everybody, understands the hardship that’s going to go on,” Kimball said. “I want you to consider that when you do your deliberation.”