Town Meeting Approves $12.99M Budget

Town Meeting · Meeting of May 18, 2026

Brimfield's Annual Town Meeting approved a $12,991,572 fiscal 2027 operating budget without seeking a Proposition 2½ override. Finance Committee Chair Joe Ballou credited free cash and a 3 percent cost-of-living raise for town employees but warned a $200 annual trash fee or an override could be needed next year, citing a 0.1 percent, $2,200 increase in state local aid. Voters amended the budget 56-43 to raise the road maintenance line to $150,000, funded by trimming the free cash transfer to the Capital Purchase Stabilization Fund from $84,629 to $34,629.

They also created a $220,000 Bridges and Culverts Stabilization Fund, approved 91 percent to 8.5 percent, and shifted $609,071.01 from free cash and overlay surplus to lower the tax rate, 93 percent to 6 percent. Resident Mike DeFalco said deferred building repairs mean "the buildings get worse and worse condition."

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Source: the Town Meeting meeting of May 18, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.