Hanover Select Board Adopts Strict Budget Timeline
Town officials emphasize 2.5% growth limits for departments while Cultural Council develops process to engage high school students in grant reviews and programming.
HANOVER - August 11 - The Hanover Select Board adopted a timeline for fiscal year 2027 budget planning Monday night, with town officials emphasizing strict spending growth limits following the recent override passage. Town Manager Joe Colangelo stressed that department budgets cannot grow more than 2.5% annually, with the school department limited to 3% growth.
"Those assumptions were based on that town departments, i.e. police, fire, CDMI, finance department, that department budgets are not able to grow at any more than 2 1⁄2%," Colangelo said. "And that's not a guaranteed growth, that's just a maximum."
The budget constraints aim to maintain the town's commitment that no additional override requests will be needed for the foreseeable future. Budget Director Jim Hoyes noted that revenue growth remains limited to 2.8% to 3.2% annually, creating ongoing fiscal challenges.
"The big picture scenario doesn't change," Hoyes said. "We're at 2.8 to 3.2 year over year revenue growth. So we're still fenced in on our expense growth by those figures."
The board unanimously approved the budget timeline, which includes a 10-year capital plan instead of the previous five-year approach. The process begins Sept. 8 with the first draft capital plan and multi-year budget forecast.
In a separate presentation, the Hanover Cultural Council requested support for involving youth members in its operations. Chair Chris Haraden and member Bonnie Clarke outlined plans to recruit high school students as non-voting members to participate in grant reviews and cultural programming.
"The Mass Cultural Council has asked local councils to think about involving youth more in the operation of the council as some sort of members," Haraden said.
Clarke emphasized the educational benefits for students, including community service hours, resume enhancement, and exposure to grant writing processes. The Cultural Council currently has nine members but can accommodate up to 22.
"You get community service hours for doing Hanover Day," Clarke said. "You can put this on your resume for college. This is a volunteer town activity, and apparently that is very important on resumes these days."
The council plans to work with three high school teachers to recruit students and develop a structured program. Clarke suggested students could serve two to three years to fully understand the grant review process.
"I think by the second year, they've got it, they've got the concept," Clarke said.
Select Board members expressed enthusiasm for the youth initiative. Rachel Hughes noted the high school's motivated student population and suggested involving students from private schools and homeschooled residents.
"I know in my experience serving on the school committee, I got to approve a handful of student run organizations and I'll say the students in our high school are incredibly motivated and driven," Hughes said.
The Cultural Council funds various community programs, including drama productions at South Shore Vocational Technical High School and the annual Hanover Day celebration.
The board also heard from North River Commission members Dan Jones and Andrew Butler, who opposed House Bill 4110 that would eliminate the commission and transfer its responsibilities to local conservation commissions. The bill faces opposition from multiple towns along the North and South Rivers.
"This proposal to get rid of it didn't do much studying before," said Jones, who has served on the commission for 35 years. "It certainly isn't years of people going to meetings and all sorts of organizations having a say in what got done."
Butler argued that eliminating the commission without a replacement plan would be irresponsible and burden already stretched conservation commissions.
"You cannot blow something up without plans to rebuild," Butler said. "I do believe this has been around for 40 years. There are changes that need to be made but this bill does not set forth anything except for the destruction of something."
Several board members expressed concerns about the fiscal impact of taking on additional enforcement responsibilities. Vanessa O'Connor noted the town's ongoing budget challenges make the proposal impractical.
"We've spent the last couple of years and years before that trying to figure out how we're gonna fund different things within the town," O'Connor said. "So to take on the significant allocation of like this big chunk of enforcement for this commission that they would want to kind of disband or have no longer exist, I don't think it's practical."
In other business, the board appointed James Hunt to the Taxation Aid Committee, which assists low-income elderly and disabled residents with property taxes. Hunt, a longtime Hanover resident and Hanover High School graduate, said he wanted to give back to the community.
Police Chief Timothy Kane provided an update on the recent accident at Webster Street involving a van carrying Cardinal Cushing School residents. Kane praised the response from multiple fire departments and community members who assisted before first responders arrived.
"Any injuries were very minor in nature," Kane said. "The response by not just the police department and the incredible response by the fire department, but also the communities that surround us when they were contacted and provided mutual aid to us was really instrumental."
The board also noted upcoming events including the Fox 25 Zip Trip on Friday and a Boston Bruins Fan Fest expected to draw several thousand attendees.