Lakeville Select Board Advances Dual-Track FY27 Budget Before May Override Vote

Select Board · Meeting of April 14, 2026

Lakeville Select Board and Finance Committee reviewed a two-track fiscal year 2027 budget Tuesday, with a $2.6 million Proposition 2½ override on the May 19 special election ballot determining which version takes effect. Town Administrator Andrew Silvia and Finance Director Michael Ellis presented an override budget, designated 1A, that holds municipal services level while shifting the town planner and principal assessor to part-time, and a non-override budget, 1B, that eliminates the town planner entirely, cuts education assessments by $1.475 million affecting roughly 56 regional school positions, and drops cost-of-living raises for all town employees. HR Director Lacey Marshall explained a $400,000 health insurance increase driven by a prior $1.4 million pool deficit and a mandatory 3 percent per-member buy-in as the town moves to Mayflower Municipal Health Group on July 1.

The board also voted 5-0 to approve a $36,650.74 fire station change order for under-slab rigid insulation required to meet the town's adopted stretch energy code, a design element Silvia acknowledged should have been in the original plans. New growth is projected at just $140,000, the second lowest in 25 years, and Lakeville's last override, also for the schools, was approved in 2013 at $1.5 million.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of April 14, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.