Hubbardston Defers Six Warrant Articles, Holds $200,000 Capital Budget for Fall

HUBBARDSTON — June 1, 2026 — Hubbardston boards defer six warrant articles and $200,000 capital budget to fall Town Meeting. The Select Board and Finance Committee met jointly on June 1 before the Annual Town Meeting and agreed to indefinitely postpone Articles 3, 4, 5, 15, and 17, with Finance Committee Chair Seth Knipe citing thin free-cash reserves and an unsettled state budget. The deferred articles include $20,000 stabilization fund contributions, a $20,000 grant-consultant appropriation, and a $200,000 capital budget that had included $130,000 for road work on Dogwood Street — a delay that Interim Town Administrator Brian Maser said would effectively push any paving to spring 2027. The town advanced Article 11, appropriating $46,471 in free cash to balance the FY27 operating budget, with roughly $34,000 moved into a reserve fund transfer account to cover a gap in the town's $157,063 annual assessment to Central Mass Regional Emergency Communications Center, which the FY27 budget funds at only $125,000.