Maynard Select Board confronts $215,000 deficit as insurance costs surge

MAYNARD -- February 4, 2025, Maynard Select Board faces $215,000 budget gap driven by surging health insurance and solid waste costs. Town Administrator Gregory Wilson told the board Tuesday that a Massachusetts Local Insurance Association rate increase ranging from roughly 9 percent to nearly 20 percent, combined with a $339,000 shortfall in state aid projections, had pushed the town into a projected $215,000 deficit ahead of the annual town meeting budget cycle. The town's solid waste contract with its current hauler expires this fiscal year, leaving an estimated $1 million bill with only about half covered by trash-sticker revenue; Wilson floated tapping the general stabilization account as a one-year bridge while an enterprise fund rolls out in fiscal 2027. The school department's budget request comes in roughly $1.4 million above Wilson's recommended 2.5 percent increase, with a Proposition 2½ override still under active discussion. The board also unanimously appointed Planning Board alternate Mark Austin Fall, Conservation Commission member Paige Zeppa, and student police officer Daniel Tully, effective February 10.