Groveland Finance Committee unanimously approves $25 million FY2027 budget with no override

GROVELAND -- March 18, 2026, Groveland Finance Committee approves a $25 million fiscal year 2027 budget with no Proposition 2.5 override required. The committee voted unanimously Wednesday to endorse the $25,041,477 general fund spending plan presented by Town Administrator Rebecca Oldham, which carries a balance of just $96 after all appropriations. Key savings come from a new trash contract reducing costs by roughly $87,000, including a tipping fee negotiated down from $103 to $99 per ton, and the elimination of four full-time and five part-time dispatcher positions following the town's move to North Shore Regional 911. Education remains the dominant expense at $15.6 million, or 62 percent of the budget, prompting member Melissa to warn that "the elephant in the room is always the school budget" and that this year's balance rests on one-time savings unlikely to recur. Chair Bill O'Neill flagged the prospective Whittier Regional Vocational Technical School building project, estimated at a minimum of $600 million, as the largest long-term financial threat facing the community and its ten partner towns, with a $2 million feasibility study now underway but no funding structure determined.