Maynard Finance Committee recommends senior center lease, rejects retirement board stipend

MAYNARD -- April 14, 2025, Maynard Finance Committee unanimously backed a $200,000 annual override and a 20-year lease for a new senior center at 141 Parker Street while voting 7-0 to reject a proposed $3,000 retirement board stipend. Chair Jillian Prendergast presided over the April 14 remote meeting, at which the committee also heard that the School Committee had revised its override request downward from roughly $1.2 million to a two-part ask of $650,000 in FY26 and $225,000 in FY27, for a combined $875,000, reducing projected layoffs from roughly 11 to approximately four positions. A School Committee representative told the committee the revised plan would still require drawing up to $300,000 from school reserves in FY26. The committee voted 6-1 to recommend raising the public retiree pension cost-of-living adjustment base from $15,000 to $18,000, unchanged since 2011, with member Linda Holt dissenting, citing the retirement fund's less-than-fully-funded status. The $200,000 senior center override would add approximately $50 annually to the tax bill of an average Maynard single-family home assessed at roughly $543,000.