South Shore News...letter: Early Warnings

South Shore Braces for Challenging Budget Season

December 2-10, 2025

The first full week of December brought mounting fiscal pressures across South Shore communities as school districts and municipal departments began confronting the difficult mathematics of FY27 budgets. While some towns like Hanover and Scituate demonstrated proactive financial planning, others faced tougher realities—from Marshfield’s elimination of nearly 20 positions over the last few years to Whitman-Hanson’s formation of an audit committee following a $1.43 million deficit. The week also saw significant leadership transitions, infrastructure announcements, and regional collaboration on mental health services, all while communities navigated post-MCAS graduation standards and prepared for challenging budget seasons ahead.

Budget Season Begins with Mixed Signals

Early budget presentations revealed the strain facing school districts even in communities with recent override support. Kingston Schools presented a $16.3M budget with a 4.82% increase for FY27, but warned that a more restrictive 2.5% funding scenario would force elimination of teaching positions and push class sizes to 26 students. Pembroke Schools faced an $823,679 increase built on “assumptions of assumptions” given unresolved teacher contract negotiations, with Superintendent Obey warning the situation “is not sustainable” despite a 4.4% increase this year.

The picture grew darker in Marshfield, where the school district revealed it has eliminated almost 20 full-time positions over two years through attrition, reducing payroll by $1.64 million. School Committee Chair Costello condemned what he called a “false narrative” from some town leaders about education spending, noting that education’s share of Marshfield’s total budget has actually declined from 56.76% to 49.59% over 17 years.

Two communities demonstrated contrasting approaches to fiscal sustainability. Hanover adopted a sweeping financial policy designed to make the town’s 2025 override last through FY32 without additional tax increases, establishing strict departmental budget caps (3% for schools, 2.5% for municipal), restructuring meals tax allocation away from OPEB to capital projects and stabilization, and creating transparent deviation protocols. Cohasset’s first quarter financial report showed revenues and expenses tracking projections, with improved overtime monitoring and updated OPEB trust investment policies supporting the town’s AAA bond rating.

Taxpayers saw the immediate impact of fiscal pressures in Rockland’s approved fire department capital exclusion vote, producing a 7.5% increase in the average single-family bill to $7,603. Hingham maintained its single tax rate rather than shifting burden to commercial properties, with board members citing concerns about burdening the small business community that comprises just 10% of the town’s total valuation.

One bright spot emerged from Scituate’s $45 million bond sale, which secured a 3.23% interest rate—dramatically better than the 4.75% originally projected to voters and representing 17% savings over the 20-year bond life. The favorable rate keeps debt exclusion costs rising just $16 this year despite major school and infrastructure projects underway.

Leadership Vacancies and Transitions

Multiple communities confronted leadership gaps at critical moments. Abington appointed Mike Maresco as interim town manager at $91.11/hour following Scott Lambiase’s upcoming departure for Kingston, establishing an aggressive timeline to have a permanent replacement by early February despite acknowledged FY27 budget challenges and a planned override election. The search committee structure drew scrutiny, with the town charter requiring no select board majority but board members successfully arguing for chair and vice-chair participation.

In a stunning development, Marshfield’s Select Board unanimously rejected both town administrator finalists, disbanding the search committee and restarting the process as the town enters what Vice Chair Darcy called a period of “historic fiscal pressures.” Chair Kelley criticized finalist Carl Geffken’s “big city mentality” and “Smart City” ideology as unsuited for Marshfield, while Darcy emphasized the need for direct town administrator experience to manage the $300 million operation.

Hanson’s Select Board prepared to fill a Whitman-Hanson Regional School Committee vacancy with intense focus on oversight capacity given the district’s $1.4 million deficit. Member Joe Weeks articulated the central question for candidates: what happens when you believe you need significantly more funding than allocated and “you can’t just make money out of thin air”?

On a more positive note, Kingston promoted Officer Michael Gallo to police sergeant effective December 28, recognizing his nearly decade of service and specialized training in firearms, tasers, and other areas while also serving as an instructor at the Massachusetts Police Training Council academy.

Financial Oversight Strengthens in Whitman-Hanson

The Whitman-Hanson Regional School Committee unanimously created an audit exploratory subcommittee and established a warrant review subcommittee following the November elimination of 30 staff positions due to the $1.43 million deficit. The audit subcommittee will develop scope and cost estimates for independent audits covering governance, internal controls, and regional agreement compliance—addressing systemic failures that allowed financial problems to accumulate undetected. Public commenters demanded transparency about missing executive session minutes and individual payroll information, with former committee member Dawn Byers pointedly asking whether administrators had been placed on improvement plans similar to those for underperforming teachers.

Education Policy Shifts in Post-MCAS Era

Hull’s School Committee debated graduation requirements for the classes of 2026 and 2027, expressing serious reservations about requiring final exam scores for competency determination just hours after Governor Healey released interim guidance. Chair Conley emphasized the unfairness of retroactively applying assessment requirements to the Class of 2026: “I can’t imagine there’s a world where I would ever feel comfortable declaring that their eligibility for graduation has something to do with a test that nobody knew was going to be an issue years ago.” The committee directed Superintendent Jette to explore removing the final exam requirement specifically for current seniors before bringing revised policy back for a vote to meet DESE’s December 31 deadline.

Regional Collaboration on Mental Health

Halifax committed to joining Kingston and Plympton in a regional mental health clinician co-response program, allocating $9,834 from opioid settlement funds to help purchase a mobile trailer office. The program brings a dedicated mental health clinician to work alongside police officers responding to mental health and substance use disorder calls across the Silver Lake region. Kingston Lieutenant Skowyra emphasized intentional integration with school resource officers, noting that collaboration with guidance counselors on issues “being seen in the schools and seen at home” represents a key program component.

Infrastructure Announcements and Development

Duxbury’s Powder Point Bridge will close for 2-3 months starting December 8, requiring residents to access Duxbury Beach, Gurnett Road, and Sequish only through Marshfield until the bridge reopens in late February or early March 2026. The board also accepted a $19,000 donation from Duxbury Youth Baseball for new batting cages at Keene Street fields and heard about a $94,000 state grant for coastal habitat restoration of the Upper Bluefish River.

Plymouth’s Select Board unanimously supported Father Bill’s & MainSpring’s application for state funding to build a $14 million housing resource center with 30 emergency shelter beds and 16 permanent supportive housing units at the First Baptist Church property on Court Street. The facility would transform Plymouth’s seasonal overnight-only shelter into a year-round, 24-hour operation with wraparound services, addressing the approximately 40-50 individuals experiencing homelessness in Plymouth at any given time.

Hanover voters approved MBTA Communities zoning in a swift December 8 special town meeting, creating a 71-acre multi-family overlay district at Hanover Crossing just weeks before the December 31 state deadline. The vote removes the threat of court-appointed special master intervention and preserves full eligibility for state grants and funding.

Hingham’s Municipal Lighting Plant presented plans for a $100-110 million underground transmission line project from Weymouth, emphasizing that rate increases already implemented over three years mean no further increases related to construction. General Manager Morahan explained the project addresses the vulnerability of all town power currently transmitted over two lines on one set of poles.

Public Safety Technology and Policy

Norwell’s Select Board unanimously authorized installation of two Flock Safety license plate reader cameras, funded entirely by a Justice Department grant. Detective Silva emphasized that cameras capture only infrared images of license plates without personal identifying information and cited a recent upskirting case where suspect identification came through access to a Hingham Flock camera. The system includes strict local data controls with all sharing requiring chief approval and automatic 30-day deletion.

Pembroke’s Select Board tabled action on a proposed outdoor live entertainment policy after members raised concerns about the 70-decibel noise limit and measurement methodology. Member Keegan explained that the decibel scale is exponential: “60 to 70 to the human ear is actually double the volume.” The board will reconvene in January after members submit individual revisions addressing enforcement mechanisms and case-by-case flexibility for different venue layouts.

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Looking ahead, multiple communities face December deadlines for budget submissions, committee appointments, and policy decisions as they prepare for spring town meetings amid what several administrators characterized as challenging fiscal environments.