It took some time to get there, but voters in Southampton, Massachusetts, approved a budget during their annual town meeting Tuesday, and teed up an override question that could prevent significant cuts to school staffing.
Confusion over process slowed things down, but nearly 200 registered voters in the Hampshire County town approved Southampton’s $23.5 million budget for FY26 – while paving the way for an override vote later this month.
That prop 2 ½ override, slated for May 20, would address nearly $900,000 needed for William E. Norris Elementary School – the town of 6,200’s lone elementary school.
It would represent a 16 percent budget increase for the school compared to last year – addressing expenses schools throughout the area are dealing with as special education, growing salaries and other costs only seem to increase.
Streamed by Easthampton Media, Tuesday’s town meeting asked voters whether they’d consider a future override to address the expenses, or pass a budget with a more modest 4 percent increase – also known as “Budget A.”
Jon Lumbra, chair of the school committee and vice chair of the select board, says passing Budget A would be devastating to the school of 475 students.
“I believe this budget is not responsible for our children or educators or the long-term strength of our community,” he said. “Passing this reduced budget will result in the elimination of eight positions, with additional hours cut in several more roles: the equivalent of a 12 ½ percent reduction in school staff.”
As town administrator Scott Szczebak explained, getting to that 4 percent figure wasn’t easy – nor was assembling the budget in general.
“I’m not going to lie, it was a difficult time getting to this. Oftentimes, it was like playing those games that you see at the Big E or at the arcade – whack-a-mole, where you hit something and something comes up,” he said, “Realistically, it started off with a 20 percent health insurance increase this year for our employee benefits, it went into the school override, then we had our free cash reduced from some old grants, and even on my way here tonight, the state senate just released their version of the budget, which had some reductions in it…”
Budget A appeared to have few fans. Jennifer Johnson spoke of how new families have been moving into the rural town south of Easthampton and north of Westfield – and that cuts at the school, part of a regional school district, would send the wrong message.
“When my fiancé at the time asked me if I wanted to build a house on land in Southampton, my first question was ‘What is the school system like?’” she said. “Because that's the most important thing: eventually, we'll have kids, and if it's a crappy school system, I'm not going to build a house here. I don't want to live in a town where I have to constantly worry about my children's education or constantly think ‘Where else kids can I send my kids, because what's in town is not adequate.’”
Most speakers were in favor of “Budget B” – which is effectively “Budget A,” but with the override attached, adding up to $24.2 million, contingent on voters approving the override down the road.
However, the wording and consequences of voting on either budget led to confusion – part of the reason Article 1 of the 30-article warrant took an hour to get past.
The whole article involved a “double motion,” moderator Robert Floyd explained, but it took time - including a recess - to sort out just what happens if Budget A or B was passed or rejected.
A back-and-forth between school committee member Dylan Mawdsley and Floyd appeared to conclude rejecting Budget A and passing Budget B would result in a May 20 vote, and that if the override were to then fail, a special town meeting and new budget would be needed.
Budget A was then voted down 113-83, while the budget packing the override request was passed by a voice vote. Before that, though, Brian Riley, who’s provided legal counsel for Southampton, clarified that no special town meeting would be needed if the May 20 prop question failed, claiming the budget with only a 4 percent increase for Norris would still be in place.
The rest of the warrant was largely cleared without issue, with many items approved unanimously.
Among the approved were over $366,000 in requests for capital projects – including two police patrol car replacements, kindergarten carpeting, and a new fire department pickup truck.
Also authorized: the town’s water department borrowing $2 million for water main upgrades and replacements on College Highway.
