Fairhaven holds marathon budget meeting

By Beth David, Editor

In a meeting that got tense at times, the Fairhaven Select Board, School Committee, and Finance Committee met for three hours on 3/19/26 to try to balance a budget that is $1.5 million short without cuts to departments and services.

SC chairperson, Brian Monroe, gave an opening statement that did not mince words about the number in the budget documents being under net school spending. He claimed it was $400K under the state mandated amount. 

Town Administrator, Keith Hickey, said he used the number he could find because the school department did not get back to him with the right number.

Mr. Monroe said he Googled it and did not understand why it was so hard for Mr. Hickey to find.

Mr. Hickey countered that Mr. Monroe was a “better Googler.”

At one point Mr. Hickey said he asked for the number more than once.

“I feel duped, frankly,” said Mr. Hickey.

“You never asked me,” countered Mr. Monroe.

Mr. Hickey said he would not ask the School Committee chair, he asked the Superintendent. It would be “disrespectful” to her, he said to ask someone else.

For her part, the Superintendent, Tara Kohler, said the number was discussed at their February meeting and had been available since then.

Mr Hickey said that made it more troubling that they had the number for so long and did not share it.

After much back and forth, Mr. Hickey simply said that the town must meet the state’s mandate and so he would have to find $400k in cuts to other departments.

The Select Board also discussed the budget, with updated numbers, at their 3/23 meeting, but held off on voting, deciding instead to hold a meeting on 3/30 to discuss the budget and Town Meeting articles.

In that meeting, Mr. Hickey pre­sented adjustments to the budget to close the gap, which, he said, was closer to $275K, not $400K

The adjustments include eliminat­ing a second truck driver position ($50K); reducing health insurance ($100K), which is an estimated reduction; reduce the library $15K, which is the amount reduced after a correction was made; eliminate the office of tourism, aka Discover Fairhaven/Community Development, ($102,241); reduce overtime hours in accounting, police and fire depart­ments ($62K); add $150 from pre­viously available funds. 

That $329,391 in savings would be offset by $42,500 in reinstated cuts.

The result is $286,891 in increased revenue to the schools.

In the SB meeting on 3/23, and included in his memo, Mr. Hickey said the changes increase the school budget to $26,392,067, which is approximately $43,334 above the Net School Spending calculation provided by the school department. Mr. Hickey said the numbers are being reviewed again to confirm accuracy.

In order to get the number more comfortably above Net School Spending, Mr. Hickey recommended that the school department make more use of its various rental, tuition, lease, and trust funds, including using more of the high school trust, which has more than $2 million in it and generates tends of thousands of dollars in interest each year. 

The reinstated cuts include keep­ing the parking lot at the town beach staffed at $22,500. Mr. Hickey said the town generates approximately $40,000 from beach stickers. Having attendants also reduces vandalism.

Mr. Hickey also recommends rein­stating the leaf pickup program at $20,000. He said public works indi­cated that eliminating it would likely result in increased illegal dumping of leaves with associated costs of cleanup possibly exceeding the $20K.

Another recommendation is to Increase the annual trash fee by $10, which would result in a increase in annual revenue of $67,135. He suggests using $50K of it to reinstate the truck driver, and using the balance for the schools.

Other recommendations include the schools using more of their circuit breaker account, and reconsidering rental fee and capital improvements on the Tripp School building.

Word got around town quickly that closing the animal shelter at a savings of about $82K per year, was likely. The town would continue to have an Animal Control Officer, but it would be a part time position.

Residents expressed concerns about closing the shelter, which is a “no-kill” shelter. Mr. Hickey said he met with some shelter volunteers who are in the process of creating a nonprofit with the goal of keeping the shelter open. He said one possibility is to lease the shelter to the group at a nominal fee, such as $1/year. The group would assume full responsibility for the building and the operation of the shelter. 

Mr. Hickey said the animal shelter gift account has about $70K in it. He said he will look into ways to legally transfer that money to the nonprofit, or at least to find out if there is a way to use it for the shelter to provide a safety net for them. As a nonprofit they will be able to pursue a larger variety of fundraisers and grants than the town can.

Any arrangement with a nonprofit would require Select Board approval.

If the nonprofit route proves to be nonviable, then the town will make arrangements with other, existing shelters to take the town’s animals.

At the 3/19 joint meeting the three boards also discussed the possibility of asking Town Meeting, and then the electorate to approve a Proposition 2/12 override. Prop 2 1/2 limits a municipality’s ability to raise taxes to 2 1/2 percent of the town’s overall tax levy (the amount that is raised through property taxes).

In general, the School committee wanted to vote to recommend the override. SB member Andrew Romano said he was inclined to vote for an override of more thant $1.3 million to carry the town for a couple of year sand to cover the department FY27 requests.

The Finance Committee had some members expressing that they would not support an override at all. FinCom chairperson Padraic Elliott opted not to take a vote but to wait.

The SB also decided to wait until after their meeting on 3/23, but then pushed that to 3/30. FinCom was scheduled to meet on 3/24.

FinCom member James Souza impressed upon the board more than once that people are telling him the simply cannot afford more in taxes. He said the town needs to raise revenues, not taxes.

All three boards agreed that outreach to the public will be the key to passing the override if the boards decide that is the direction they want to go.

At the SB meeting on 3/23, SB member Andrew Saunders reiterated his frustration with the state, and particularly the governor who will not give more aid to cities and towns. He said most municipalities are in the same situation. Instead of giving more aid to municipalities, the state gave them the ability to raise local taxes.

It was not we will give you more, he said, it was we will send you in front of the “firing squad.”

“You take the body shot because we don’t have the courage to do it,” said Mr. Saunders.

The town’s operating budget in FY 26 (last year to 6/30/26) was $61,762,374. Department requests for FY27 add up to $65,490,245; That would require an override of more than $1 million.

In order to avoid an override, the budget must be no more than $63,285,576. To get there, the town will have to eliminate the positions and services discussed at the meetings, plus a reduction in tree removal and plantings; eliminating the hazardous waste day; and a reduction in road work.

Both meetings are available on demand at www.FairhavenTV.com

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