LYNNFIELD — Town Administrator Rob Dolan gave a budget update for Fiscal Year 2026 at last Thursday’s Select Board meeting, where he communicated the hard decisions the town needs to make to balance a $4 million deficit.
Dolan announced ten different actions the town took last week to help with the strained fiscal situation, including layoffs at multiple departments.
The presentation also made clear the sacrifices that would be needed if an override does not pass, including a reduction of $261,318 in the library’s budget, a $149,984 reduction in the senior center’s budget, a reduction of $200,000 in school bus operations, and a level funding for the school budget, meaning they’d receive the same amount of money from the previous year.
“The reason for these departments, although they’re critically important, we have to try our best to protect our schools, fire and police,” Dolan said. “Every department’s going to be impacted in some way, be it capital, be it overtime, be it staff.”
He explained how the issue isn’t spending, but the lack of revenue, which stands at $2.1 million for FY26, and new growth to pay for rising costs, especially as the boom of profits from Marketstreet ended in 2016 and the town’s goal of not building big developments.
“Lynnfield is a residential town to the extreme… when we talk about funding our government and our schools, the burden, primarily, is on the taxpayers,” Dolan said. “That’s the reality of living in a beautiful town like Lynnfield that values open space and quality of life.”
State aid was mostly stagnant for the past decade until a bump in the past three years came after special education needs became exasperated post-pandemic and higher funding became necessary.
However, Dolan explained that he doubts that state aid will stay at the higher level.
“The state has not reached its revenue markers in well over a year and a half,” he said. “We are seeing at the federal level massive reductions… even worse for Massachusetts; it could be the block granting of the Medicaid issue that really holds this state together. If that money is passed down to the states at a rate of 30, 40 cents a dollar, we have a massive state problem, and what will be reduced? Local aid.”
Putting strain on the budget is the historic inflation, large increases to non-discretionary costs outpacing the revenue gains, a 13% increase in insurance costs, all union contracts expiring in June, a 4.5% cost increase to pensions, and a 15.7% increase to property and casualty insurance.
To assuage some of this financial burden, the town made multiple permanent budget impacts, including layoffs in the library, senior center, and public works, a spending freeze as of April 1, an insurance opt-out program, early retirement incentives, and a request for 2% reductions in all departments.
“We have to look at all options and turn every stone to see where we can cut costs but still maintain revenues,” Dolan said. “When we reduce staff here, it’s very difficult for operations, but we have to do what we have to do, and we are willing to manage, and will manage, through it.”
He also talked about looking towards more options for regionalization agreements with other towns, something that the town already does with the Lynnfield Water District.
Dolan also went over capital projects in his presentation, which he explained are expenses paid for with one-time revenues and are less than they usually are this year.
It includes a roadway program, a neighborhood drainage project, a police vehicle, police technology, school technology, a fire command vehicle, a Wills Wood trail grant match, senior center building improvements, and town technology improvements.
Finally was the proposition of a $5 million override, with $4 million going towards restoring budgets and $1 million going towards school technology upgrades.
The average annual impact based on the average single-family house of $1,045,013 would be $971.86.
“The benefits are an immediate restoration of full school funding as requested by the School Committee and superintendent, restores school buses, restores the library and its accreditation, restores the senior center,” Dolan explained. “It also allows us a capital budget to invest in roads, plow snow, help with overtime when there’s an injury in the police and fire department… the small touches that make Lynnfield truly beautiful.”
The override would additionally help with future costs by funding the already outdated school technology, the overnight staffing needs, which are currently covered by expiring grants, preparing for known trash increases, and future school and town-wide fixed cost needs.
“After doing 17 budgets on this board, having 12 years of balanced budgets, this is probably the most challenging one we’ve had since I’ve been on the board or finance committee,” Select Board Vice Chair Phillip Crawford said. “There’s obviously a need for an override this year; there’s no way around it. What’s the best way to manage that? We’re still working on that.”
Important dates in regard to the override include a school budget public hearing on March 25, a finance committee budget meeting March 27, a town budget public hearing March 31, Town Meeting April 29, and, if it is voted to go to ballot at Town Meeting, the override vote will be on June 4.
All budget information will be on the Lynnfield town website, and citizens can email [email protected] with any questions they have about the budget, which will then be answered on public access TV by Dolan.
“I just want, at the end of this process, which is really hard on everyone, that everyone has their opportunity to get the information,” Dolan said. “And then you make the decision whether you support this override and investment and whether you don’t.”
