Hanson Faces Potential $2.9 Million Override to Maintain Town Services
Without override, town may need to cut up to 36 full-time positions across departments
HANSON - February 25 - Hanson officials are grappling with a looming budget crisis that may require a $2.9 million override to maintain current town services. Town Accountant Eric Kinsherf presented the stark financial outlook at Tuesday's Select Board meeting, explaining that without the override, the town would need to cut approximately 36 full-time positions and significantly reduce services.
"The best thing for the town to do financially and maintain all these services is to give the town an override," Kinsherf says. "It's thinking of like $2.9 million. And if that happened, we'd be able to fund this and we would not be touching any of our reserves."
The budget shortfall stems from increasing costs across departments and limited revenue growth. The overall increase in the operating budget is approximately $2.7 million, with about half attributed to the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District's proposed 9% budget increase.
Town Administrator Lisa Green emphasizes the severity of potential cuts if the override fails.
"This is devastating. All town departments basically are already operating on a minimal staff. So this level of budget cuts is going to result in a loss of staff, which we're already on a minimal staff," Green says. "The loss of staff is going to require offices hours to be reduced significantly."
Green warns that once services are cut, they cannot be immediately restored even if residents later decide they want them back.
"People don't understand once these cuts are made and they go to the senior center the next day to find it closed, you can't just say, 'Oh, I didn't realize that was going to happen. Let's put the money back,'" she says. "Once these services are gone, they're gone until we go through the whole process to bring them back with funding."
If the override fails, Kinsherf recommends using $1.1 million from free cash and cutting $1.8 million from existing budget requests. This approach would leave the town with approximately $1.1 million in unappropriated free cash and $1.7 million in the stabilization fund.
"That would be all our reserves," Kinsherf notes, adding that if the school district maintains its full budget request without proportional cuts, the town's reserves would be "drained almost down to zero."
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett expresses concern about the impact on town services and the difficulty of making cuts when many departments are already operating with minimal staff.
"We only have so much money," FitzGerald-Kemmett says. "There are things we cannot control, you know, health insurance, utilities, those types of things we've got little or no control over."
Board member Joe Weeks emphasizes that the town is already operating efficiently.
"We are very, very blessed to have people that are willing to volunteer their time, work way over what they're getting paid," Weeks says. "It is not a matter of mismanagement. It is not a matter of money mismanagement or lack of budgeting preparedness. I think you've done an amazing job, but we just don't have the dollars."
The school district's budget represents approximately 47% of the town's overall budget, a point of frustration for board members who note they have limited influence over school spending decisions.
"We have been pretty fortunate to be able to do that, but it does make people skittish. And it also makes it difficult to attract good talent when you've got openings," FitzGerald-Kemmett says regarding the challenge of maintaining stability in town departments amid budget uncertainty.
Kinsherf suggests that if approved, the override would likely sustain town services for about three years before financial pressures might return.
The Finance Committee is currently reviewing department budget requests. Once that process is complete, more specific information about potential cuts will be available to share with residents.
In other business, the Select Board:
- Appointed Thaddeus Nowaki as the town's new Veterans Service Officer. Nowaki, currently serving as VSO in Randolph, was selected over another finalist due to his experience and ability to "hit the ground running" without extensive training.
- Discussed the recent determination by the state auditor that the MBTA Communities Act constitutes an unfunded mandate. Town Counsel explained that this finding could provide leverage for towns challenging the law, which requires communities to create multi-family housing zones near transit stations.
- Heard a presentation from Council on Aging Director Mary Collins highlighting the center's services, including 4,500 meals delivered to residents in 2024, over 6,800 transportation trips provided, and Medicare advising that saved community members over $91,000.
The Select Board plans to continue budget discussions at upcoming meetings as they prepare for the May Annual Town Meeting.