Fairhaven Town Administrator, Keith Hickey, speaks to a group of residents at the West Island Improvement Association Community Hall on 4/8/26 to discuss the budget shortfall. Photo by Beth David.
By Beth David, Editor
Fairhaven Town Administrator, Keith Hickey, and Assistant Town Administrator of Finance, Town Accountant, Anne Carreiro, continued to take their message about the budget situation directly to the public with a meeting at the West Island Improvement Association Community House on 4/8/26. The two have been meeting with organizations and citizen groups to explain the budget shortfall and the proposal for a $760K Proposition 2 1/2 override.
Prop 2 1/2 is a state law that limits the amount municipalities can raise on the tax levy (property taxes) to 2 1/2 percent of the previous year’s valuation. The town also raises revenues with local receipts (permits, fees, excise taxes), and receives state aid.
The state has not finalized its budget yet. Estimates look like Fairhaven will get just under $14 million in state aid with most of it ($10 million) going to the schools. Only $2.8 million is in unrestricted state aid meaning the town can use it for any budget item.
After all the calculating, the town came up about $1.5 million short. After months of trimming and recalculating, the town still needed $760,149 to keep most services. Even if the override passes, there will be no lifeguards at the beach, and the highway department will lose on position.
Without the override, the highway department will lose two positions, the school department will just barely be over Net School Spending (NSS), which is the amount the state requires the town to spend on schools; the tourism office will be completely eliminated; the animal shelter will be closed, and the Animal Control Officer will be part time. The fire and police departments will also lose $25K each in overtime.
If the override passes, all those items will be reinstated and the schools will also receive $481,376 to bring NSS to $500K over the state mandated amount
First, the override has to pass at the annual Town Meeting on 5/2, then it needs to pass at the annual town election on 6/9.
Approximately 40 people attended on West Island. Most questions revolved around the changes to the town beach, especially the loss of lifeguards; and the loss of the animal shelter.
Mr. Hickey began by saying there was a “curveball” by the Board of Public Works, that was considering an increase in the trash fee from $100 to $200 annually. The change would raise an additional $600K. The trash fee is set by a simple vote of the BPW. Some residents argued that because it is a BPW vote, it can also be rescinded, whereas a Prop 1 1/2 override is here to stay.
At that meeting, though, the BPW had not voted. At its meeting on 4/13, the board discussed the change, but also did not vote to change the fee.
Fairhaven Town Administrator, Keith Hickey, speaks to a group of residents at the West Island Improvement Association Community Hall on 4/8/26 to discuss the budget shortfall. Photo by Beth David.
West Island residents voiced concerns about not having lifeguards at the beach. Mr. Hickey said both budgets eliminate the lifeguards. At first, he said, he had also eliminated the parking lot attendants. They have been reinstated, though, because they bring in about $40K in revenue, and cost about $20K.
The trailer with the toilets, however, will no longer be at the beach, and beach fees will be going up, too.
Mr. Hickey said it costs too much to transport the trailer because of minimum hours requirements by the union. The town beach will have portable toilets that will stay there and be cleaned daily.
Residents were also concerned about the animal shelter and the cutback in hours for the ACO.
Mr. Hickey said that a group of volunteers is creating a nonprofit to run the shelter. He said he will recommend to the Select Board that the town lease the shelter to the new nonprofit for $1/year. The ACO will still be part time.
Funding for the shelter runs out on 6/30 at the end of the fiscal year, but the gift account has more than $70K that can be used to fund operations until the nonprofit can start raising its own funds.
The town’s website has a tax calculator on the budge page. Residents can simply enter the assessed value of their homes and the calculator will estimate the taxes on that house with no override and with an override. There is no longer any need to download the form. Visit https://fairhaven-ma.gov/fy2027-budget-information/
The average home in Fairhaven is assessed at about $450K. Next year’s taxes are estimated to increase by $144 ($12/month) with no override. If the override passes, the taxes would increase an additional $85.50 to $229.50, for an additional $7.13/month.
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