Finance Committee Recommends Revised Budgets After Override Fails at Polls

Finance Committee · Meeting of May 6, 2026

West Brookfield Finance Committee recommends sweeping departmental budget cuts after voters reject a Proposition 2½ override. The committee met May 6, days after Question 1A failed 497 to 624 and Question 1B failed 501 to 604, and voted unanimously to rescind and replace previously recommended figures for more than a dozen departments including police, fire, highway, ambulance, and council on aging. Even with the reductions — which included zeroing out the celebrations budget and cutting council on aging salaries to $46,736 — town staff reported a remaining deficit of approximately $370,000 heading into the June 2 annual town meeting.

A Quaboag Regional School District representative warned that the $100,000 cut being sought from the district translates to a $250,000 total reduction when the Warren cost-share formula is applied, and that deep staffing cuts could generate $400,000 to $600,000 in unemployment costs. Committee members also discussed the town's stabilization fund — estimated at roughly $1.1 million — which is effectively encumbered as collateral for a $6 million EPA-mandated water infrastructure loan, leaving virtually no cushion for floor amendments at town meeting.

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Source: the Finance Committee meeting of May 6, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.