Southwick Select Board Warns of Override Risk as FY27 School Gap Widens

Select Board · Meeting of April 7, 2026

Southwick Select Board and Finance Committee warn FY27 budget gap may force a Proposition 2½ override. Meeting jointly Tuesday, the board and Finance Committee reviewed a capital request list of approximately $6 million against less than $1 million in remaining free cash, with the regional school assessment having grown by an estimated $5 million over five years while town operations have been held flat or cut. Board member Ross Anderson said free cash is "used to actually just fund the operations of the government" rather than reduce the tax rate, and warned the town is "close to the edge" of an override.

The board also learned the Hampden County Sheriff's Office will not perform lake patrols this year without direct town funding, and Anderson expressed sharp disappointment that the school budget placed both school resource officers under the school budget rather than the mechanism he had proposed. A fire engine purchase estimated near $1 million — rising roughly $50,000 for each year of delay — remains unresolved heading into a joint follow-up session with the Finance Committee on April 8.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of April 7, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.