By Beth David, Editor
Fairhaven voters will face three ballot questions* on Tuesday, 6/9/26, in addition to voting for candidates for town-wide office and Town Meeting members. Town officials held an informational meeting on Tuesday 5/19, to answer questions from the public about the ballot initiatives.
Question 1 would remove police officers and firefighters from Civil Service. Both unions voted to make the change with the last contract. A “yes” vote revokes Civil Service; a “no” vote means no change.
Question 2 asks voters to support a Proposition 2 1/2 override of $649,178, which would be added to the tax levy (property taxes). Prop 2 1/2 limits the town to raising taxes at 2.5% each year. This leaves the town with a shortfall, despite cuts to across all departments. If passed, the override would provide $15,561 in Fire Overtime; $102,241 to the Tourism/Community Development Department which otherwise will be completely eliminated; $50,000 to the Highway Department to restore a position; $481,376 to the Fairhaven Public Schools.
A “yes” vote allows the town to assess the additional amount; a “no” vote means the town will use the budget passed in Article 8 at Town Meeting, and the loss of the Tourism Department.
The town has uploaded a “Tax Override Estimator” on its website. Property owners can enter the assessed value (not market value) of their homes and see how much the increase will be for them. Visit https://fairhaven-ma.gov/fy2027-budget-information/
Question 3 asks voters to accept a town Charter that was approved at the annual Town Meeting last year. The Charter consolidates and replaces the provisions of various special acts that currently establish the government structure of the town. Some bylaws have been replaced, but many remain.
Signficant changes include clarifying the roles of Select Board and Town Administrator; the number of Planning Board members is changed from eight to nine; the number of School Committee members is changed from six to five.
A Charter is basically a constitution for the town, with the remaining bylaws functioning as rules under the Charter.
At the meeting on Tuesday, Town Administrator, Keith Hickey, gave a presentation, including an explanation of each question. School Superintendent, Tara Kohler; Public Works Superintendent, Vinnie Furtado; and Todd Migliacci for the Tourism Office joined him for the override question.
Question 1
For Question 1, removing firefighters and police officers from Civil Service, Mr. Hickey explained that the unions and the town had agreed to leave Civil Service(CS) in exchange for a 2.5% raise. He said the town has continued to fund that.
Then Town Meeting voted to adopt the changes.
However, there was a mistake in how the change was handled. Because the town entered into CS through a town-wide vote, the town can only leave CS through a town-wide vote. The two chief positions each need to be handled differently, too. The Fire Chief required a Town Meeting vote, which failed this month. The Police Chief requires a ballot in a state election; it will be on the ballot in November.
For the rank and file, the vote will have to pass on 6/9.
Mr. Hickey said that CS is a cumbersome process that does not always allow the town to hire the best person. I can take more than a year to hire someone using the CS process. He said in his own experience, he has found that the point system, which gives points for residency and veteran status, can elevate a person who is not qualified.
He said both chiefs support leaving Civil Service, and that the union members agreed not to speak against leaving CS, so he did not understand where the lawns signs against it were coming from. He said they were definitely in support of it in 2022 and 2023. Of the 351 municipalities in Mass., only 95 remain in CS.
In answer to a resident’s question, Mr. Hickey confirmed that the ballot question needs to pass with a simple majority.
Question 2
Mr. Migliacci focused on the events that the tourism department has sponsored in the past year. Most have included vendors and food trucks that have paid a fee, adding to the town coffers. He said the events have brought lots of people into the town. Alyssa Botelho, the Tourism Director, is also the town’s media manager. She oversees 28 Facebook pages and 10 Instagram accounts for the town and individual departments.
Mr. Migliacci listed the events year round that the department has sponsored and explained how it has brought businesses and visitors to town.
He said future plans included focusing on more film production opportunities, since he and Ms. Botelho both have backgrounds in film making.
Another focus will be to break into the wedding market, to rent the town’s beautiful historic properties as wedding venues.
Mr. Furtado said the $50,000 will restore one of two truck driving positions in the highway department. He said however, that the residents should understand that the two positions come after getting cut $400,000 “from our ask.”
Mr. Furtado said they managed to restore the lifeguards, but they did it by cutting back on Recycle Center hours and seasonal employees for grass cuttings.
“So we’re robbing Peter to pay Paul,” said Mr. Furtado, adding in all the years he’s worked in Fairhaven they have never added a highway position. The department currently has three vacancies.
He said grass cutting is the most obvious place to see the cuts, joking, “you can hide small children there.”
He said they just do not have the staff.
He also listed some of the services that will be gone next year even if the override passes, including hazardous materials waste day, and tree work.
He said the town did its first tree assessment, and there are some they need to take down, but they do not have the money.
“I know that I was invited here to certainly answer questions and to speak about that one position, the truck driver,” said Mr. Furtado. “But I think it needs to be said, honestly, this is where we are. And it’s not going to get better next year.”
Mr. Hickey said that the impacts of previous cuts are already being seen. He said the town is getting calls from residents asking when the parks will be mowed. He said they were not trying to startle or scare anyone.
“We’re just trying to provide factual information, and everybody’s going to have their own opinion on whether or now they support an override,” said Mr. Hickey. “We just want to make sure people are informed and educated about what the override will provide and what services will be impacted if an override fails.”
Ms. Kohler said that if the override passes, the schools will be able to restore two teaching positions and a Special Education (SPED) program for grades K-2. She said the district funded dangerously close to Net School Spending (NSS), which is the amount the state requires. Currently, the state has given Fairhaven a waiver for the SPED program, which they got when the last override attempt failed.
She explained some ways the district has saved money by cutting items that do not count to NSS, such as transportation. They combined the two preschool programs so they could save on the curriculum package, although studies have shown that young students perform better if the preschool is in the same building as their elementary schools.
“We have done fantastic, I think,” with your tax dollars,” said Ms. Kohler. “We’ve been really responsible.”
Ms. Kohler said that teachers and staff are very dedicated, but are the lowest paid in the area, and they are “hitting breaking point.”
She said they have found people who are caring and have a purpose. They have set a high bar.
“But, honestly, we believe in every student having somebody they can go to at a school, and we try to hire people who are going to do that,” said Ms. Kohler. “And we’re hitting the point where we have educators leaving because they heare that there’s a better class size or better supports or the SPED classroom I’m talking about, who have a resource for the kids that we’re so passionate about.”
She said it is a very challenging time.
“We want to do what’s right for all kids,” said Ms. Kohler “We have the passion to do it. We need the money to match it.”
She said it seems like it is a “signficant ask” but it just keeps everything in place.
Ms. Kohler also said the district is very aggressive in getting grant money for programs.
Mr. Hickey said that communities all across the state are looking to reduce staffing in public safety and education, and many are requesting overrides.
“Our expenses are far outpacing our revenue sources,” said Mr. Hickey, adding that Mr. Migliacci mentioned some ways that the tourism department is trying to increase revenues.
Mr. Hickey said the override is just a Band-aid for this year. There are some new growth projects in the pipeline, that hopefully will get approved quickly.
Question 3
Mr. Hickey said the Charter modernizes and updates a lot of the bylaws.
A charter is a “constitution for your town,” said Mr. Hickey. “It clarifies town government and functions.”
He briefly reviewed how the charter proposal came about, with a nine-member Charter Committee that conducted a study of the departments; made reports to the public; reviewed state law; and presented a final draft to town meeting last year.
It was approved by TM and the legislature, so now it has to pass a town-wide vote.
In response to a resident’s question, Mr. Hickey confirmed that if the override passes, the money must be spent as specified in the ballot question and cannot be diverted.
The presentation is available on demand at FairhavenTV.com, an
The election is on Tuesday, 6/9. Polls are open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. All precincts vote at the Fairhaven Recreation Center, 227 Huttleston Ave. (near Stop & Shop). Call the Town Clerk’s office if you have any questions about your voting status, 508-979-4023.
*The full text of the ballot questions is available on our website, www. neighbnews.com
•••
Click here to download the 5/21/26 issue: 05-21-26 Encampment
Support local journalism, donate to the Neighb News with PayPal
