Lakeville Select Board Recommends Meals Tax, Crypto ATM Ban for June 8 Town Meeting

LAKEVILLE -- June 2, 2026, Lakeville Select Board recommends 18 town meeting articles, including a new local meals tax and a cryptocurrency ATM ban, for the June 8 Annual Town Meeting. Meeting jointly with the Finance Committee and Town Moderator Catherine Goodfellow, the board worked through a packed warrant while grappling with the fallout from a failed Proposition 2.5 override, Finance Director Mike Ellis confirmed a $1,353,284 gap between the town's proposed school appropriation and the regional school committee's full assessment, meaning any budget passed as presented constitutes a statutory rejection requiring further action by the school committee. Free cash stands at roughly $1.7 million coming into town meeting, with approximately $250,000 projected to remain after the $800,000 Gateway Health Group deficit payment, a $512,000 capital omnibus, and other articles are funded. The board voted 4-1 to recommend a combined marijuana and data center overlay district, with Lorraine Carboni dissenting, and deferred without recommendation on a citizen's petition wetland bylaw submitted by Conservation Commission Chair Nancy Yates, who described it as her third attempt in 20 years to establish a 25-foot no-touch buffer protecting town wetlands.