Maynard Select Board Weighs Two-Tier Override Plan for FY26 Budget

MAYNARD — February 25, 2025 — Maynard Select Board debates two-tier override approach to close FY26 budget gap. Town Administrator Gregory Johnson told the board the current budget deficit stands at $74,000 after a 9.9 percent health insurance renewal — down from $215,000 weeks ago but still requiring action ahead of an April 1 deadline to place an override question on the May 6 ballot. Board member Jeffrey Swanberg proposed a two-tier structure totaling up to $2.2 million: a first tier of roughly $1.5 million covering solid waste ($600,000), a senior center lease ($200,000), and half of the school level-service gap ($700,000), with a second optional tier carrying the remaining school funding. A School Committee representative warned the board that splitting the school allocation would leave the district draining reserves and cycling back to the same funding crisis next year. Board member David Gavin argued that including solid waste in the override risks confusing voters who have understood the package as being about schools and a senior center, while member Mike Stevens called getting schools above the two-and-a-half-percent levy limit an "absolute must have."