Week of Oct. 26, 2026
The FY28 budget season started early this year, and it started with layoff warnings. Abington’s town manager says he has already told department heads to expect layoffs. Norwell’s school staff have been told positions could go if the district is level-funded, and level services will cost $1,137,161 more. Hanover’s first look at a school budget shows a $406,078 gap and a “sizable” FY29 gap behind it. The drivers are the usual ones: pensions, health insurance, special education, and state aid that doesn’t keep pace (Abington’s rose 1.1% last year).
Meanwhile, towns are reaching for every lever except the one that moves the most money. Fee schedules are being rewritten from Marshfield to Plymouth, and three more communities kept a single tax rate. Debt exclusions are queued up in Hingham, Cohasset and Whitman. Norwell supplies the week’s override paradox. FY26 closed with about $1.5 million in turnbacks, partly because unemployment costs budgeted after the failed override never materialized, and staff are now being warned about cuts anyway.
The FY28 squeeze
Abington — Abington Officials Warn of Layoffs as FY28 Budgets Start at Level Funding and 5% Cuts Department heads are building level-funded and 5%-cut budgets, but the forecast says a 6.3% reduction is needed to balance. Both the Select Board and Finance Committee say no override, and the snow and ice account is budgeted at $100,000 against a real need of $300,000 to $400,000.
Hanover — Hanover Schools’ First FY28 Budget Look Shows $406,078 Gap Level-service costs of $47,713,181 run up against a $42,550,006 town appropriation and $4,757,097 in supplemental funding. The proposed fix leans on the special education reserve and circuit breaker rollover, and basic questions about the reserve balance were left unanswered at the table.
Norwell — Norwell School Committee Picks NESDEC for Superintendent Search The headline is the $13,760 search for Matt Keegan’s successor. The sleeper is the budget warning that positions could be cut if FY28 is level-funded.
Norwell — Norwell Updates Electrical Permit Fees, Hears FY26 Closed With About $1.5 Million in Spending Turnbacks The cushion came from unemployment costs budgeted after the failed override, health insurance turnbacks and vacancy savings, all described as one-time blips. Don’t mistake it for structural breathing room.
Marshfield — Marshfield Phases In License Fee Increases, Fills Three Police Vacancies Buried under the fee vote is the real fiscal story. Unfunded pension liability is around $60 million, the county system’s full-funding target has slipped to 2032, and Town Administrator Ted Langill says pension and healthcare take 30% to 45% of new revenue. He floated a prepayment with one-time money, which wouldn’t hit payments until the FY29 budget.
Fees: the quiet revenue lever
Plymouth — Plymouth Raises Liquor and Auto Dealer Fees 4-1 The all-alcohol license, unchanged at $1,800 since 1990, goes to $2,800, with a 3% annual escalator on fees not capped by statute. David Golden cast the lone no vote.
Marshfield — (see above) The Select Board split its increases over two years (50% each) and held the seasonal all-alcohol license to $1,000 rather than the proposed $1,500, after the few business owners who wrote in opposed the increases.
Norwell — (see above) Electrical permit fees were updated because they don’t cover the inspector’s costs. Members want a future discussion on letting the building commissioner raise fees on a set percentage schedule, as with ambulance fees.
The pattern is automatic escalators and benchmarking against neighbors, which is a way to avoid the next 20-year fee freeze. Plymouth’s board asked staff to explain the increases to license holders in advance, and Marshfield’s phase-in suggests that outreach matters.
Single rate, again
Hanson and Duxbury kept a single tax rate for FY27, and Hull did the same (see Infrastructure below). The math explains why. Hull’s base is 96.31% residential, and Hanson’s is 92%.
Hanson — Hanson Votes on Keeping Single Tax Rate A 25% shift would raise the average commercial-industrial bill from about $10,427 to $13,034. Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said the town already struggles to attract businesses, and the assessors reported just $4,955 in excess levy capacity.
Duxbury — Duxbury Keeps Single Tax Rate The Selectboard kept the single rate Monday, then spent most of the night on the Powder Point Bridge (below).
Debt exclusion season
Hingham — Hingham Backs Two School Roof Projects Pending Nov. 3 Ballot, Adds $1,115,000 for High School Design Both elementary roofs passed unanimously by voice vote ($5,522,049 town share at South, $11,745,525 at Plymouth River after updated MSBA grant figures). Each still needed a majority at the ballot. The $1,115,000 design add isn’t excluded debt, and it doesn’t approve a high school project now estimated at $90 million to $110 million. According to the Hingham Anchor, both passed.
Cohasset — Cohasset Backs $20.9 Million Police Station Pending Dec. 5 Ballot This is the second try after last year’s plan failed at the ballot. The redesign drops the fire substation wing. Capital Budget Committee chair Susan Franklin estimated about $0.59 per thousand in the bond’s first year, declining to $0.19. One resident said many no longer trust town leaders.
Whitman — Whitman Sets Jan. 30 Ballot Language for South Shore Tech Debt Exclusion Voters have already approved the school, and now they have to approve how to pay for it. The cost is $1,093,000 next year if not excluded, peaking at almost $2 million around 2031 or 2032. Dan Salvucci warned of “severe damage” if it came out of the budget. Dawn Byers said the DOR-prescribed wording reads as though voters are deciding whether to build a school, and the board acknowledged it dropped the ball on outreach last year.
Schools: scores, curriculum and governance
Abington — Abington Trails State in Most MCAS Grades The district was below the state in five of seven ELA grades and six of seven math grades, with a 14-point math gap in grade 5 (25% vs. 39%). Caroline Ellis urged the district not to wait on new curricula, asking about Chromebook use, cell phones and writing across the curriculum.
Plymouth — Plymouth School Committee Splits on Literacy Act Path as District’s Reading Curriculum Awaits State Rating The current materials have never been rated, and Superintendent Chris Campbell says 55% of districts would be out of compliance under the list as it stands. The committee is divided between seeking a waiver and replacing materials.
Rockland — Rockland High AP Pass Rate Reaches 80% on 324 Exams A modest climb from just shy of 79%, plus a quiet equity question on dual enrollment: Principal Cheryl Schipper applied for a REF grant for students who can’t cover the $350 or $450 credit cost.
East Bridgewater — East Bridgewater School Committee Votes Down MASC Safe Zones Resolution, Voices Support for Joint Letter to Governor Healey A unanimous no on Resolution 1 as “way too onerous” (Dan Picha). Ayes on Resolution 5, which would let regional committees access special education reserve funds by majority vote instead of seeking every select board’s approval.
Whitman — (see above) The Select Board forwarded the Whitman-Hanson regional agreement to town counsel 3-0-2. The Regional Agreement Committee wants to keep the two-thirds school committee vote requirement even though district counsel noted state law requires only a majority.
Infrastructure, resilience and land use
Hull — Hull Select Board Vote Fails 2-3 on Keeping Light Plant in Resilient Facility Study, Keeps Single Tax Rate The motion to keep the study’s original scope failed, with only Irwin Nesoff and Greg Grey in support. The consultants’ rough estimates are $56,406,600 for a combined facility and $73,426,000 for separate ones. The board also kept a single rate (estimated $10.30 per $1,000, $8,029 average single-family bill).
Duxbury — (see above) A MassDOT official said replacement is the only option the agency can fund. The town has until roughly late March to say whether it wants the Powder Point Bridge project stopped, and opponents called it a nearly $200 million project.
“We cannot spend money on that. We cannot. That does not mean you cannot.” — Marco Pereira, MassDOT
Scituate — Scituate Awards Surfside Road Seawall Repair and Water Supply Study, Approves Lupo Di Mare License The seawall repair went to Foulsham Corporation (listed at $503,000, with Finance Director Nancy Holt estimating a 50% to 75% FEMA share). A $49,655 Woodard & Curran study will look at aquifer injection and desalination because, per Freya Schlegel, “we don’t really have any other possibilities for more water.” A joint Marshfield permitting contract for South River dredging is 80% grant-funded and authorizes design and permitting only.
Kingston — Kingston Town Meeting Backs Sewer Petition 171-28 The petition grew out of the Miramar sewer allocation in Duxbury. Town counsel warned that sending an existing contract back to Town Meeting could expose the town to a breach claim. Voters also approved $250,000 for larger water meters 125-105 and banned data centers in all zoning districts.
Hanover — (see above) A Cedar School parent challenged a proposed cell tower on school property. The surveyed location is about 180 feet from the school, per Libby Corbo, though Superintendent Matthew Ferron said no decisions have been made.
Hanson — (see above) Community Power prices rise with December meter reads, when Constellation replaces Direct Energy, though all three products remain below National Grid basic service.
Housing
Plymouth — (see above) Three Oak Street units, a $1.2 million to $1.3 million project, don’t count toward the SHI because no lottery was held. Town Manager Derek Brindisi floated asking for a voluntary payment or demanding money for the missing restriction. The Housing Authority said it zeroes out its budget each year and collecting could hurt its 1,100 tenants. The most recent count showed about 238 more units needed to reach 10%.
Town Meeting and Select Board skirmishes
Cohasset — (see above) The 2024 single-use plastic water bottle ban was repealed 109-107, with the moderator declining a request to question the count. A summer leaf-blower restriction failed 109-117, and a surveillance oversight bylaw was postponed.
Halifax — Halifax Select Board Fills Two Zoning Board of Appeals Seats, Honors Dick Clark on Retirement After 40 Years Marline Amedee was promoted to full member and Wayne Murray was appointed associate. A zoning bylaw review committee stalled since December 2024 is being reinvigorated.
Marshfield — (see above) The Select Board filled three police vacancies with existing positions and money, by roll call. Eric Kelley noted the candidates’ absence from the meeting.
Off the agenda
North River — The River of a Thousand Ships: The Industrial Ghost of the North River Estuary A weekend read on the shipyards that launched more than 1,000 vessels between 1645 and 1871.
Looking Ahead
Nov. 9: Hanover Town Meeting, with cell tower location discussions ongoing. Town officials were to meet with the tower company Monday to look at alternative locations.
Dec. 5: Cohasset special town election on the $20.9 million police station debt exclusion.
Jan. 30, 2027: Whitman debt exclusion vote on its share of the South Shore Tech bonds. A 20-minute presentation is planned for the Select Board’s next regular meeting.