Lunenburg Select Board Eyes Two-Tier Override, Gaps Over $3 Million

LUNENBURG -- March 16, 2026, Lunenburg Select Board reviews FY27 budget with $1 million town-side deficit, eyes two-tier override approaching $3 million combined with schools. Town Manager Jennifer Doré led a two-hour department-by-department workshop March 16, presenting a balanced budget scenario that eliminates the Director of Communications and IT, cuts police front-desk coverage from 3 to 7 p.m., reduces fire department per diem coverage from 112 to 70 hours per week, eliminates a new recreation position, and zeros out the band concert and Historical Commission budgets, among other reductions. A higher core-services override scenario, currently priced "just shy of $3 million" combined with the school department's restoration number, restores most of those cuts, while a fully costed town restoration tier, which would add items including full MS4 stormwater compliance funding and pavement management restored to $430,000, had not yet been completed as of the meeting. Board members reached informal consensus on presenting voters with a tiered override structure, and Doré said she would aim to have a town restoration draft ready by Thursday ahead of a follow-up workshop the next Monday.