Whately Select Board signals likely override vote to close $650,000 budget gap

Select Board · Meeting of March 2, 2026

Whately Select Board and Finance Committee agree a Proposition 2½ override is likely unavoidable to close a roughly $650,000 budget gap. Meeting jointly on March 2, the boards heard that Sunderland Elementary has already cut its budget request from 18.3 percent to approximately 10 percent — saving the town roughly $350,000 — but that the Frontier Regional School assessment alone, driven by enrollment shifts that push Sunderland's share to 8.6 percent despite the district's own 3.9 percent spending increase, exceeds the town's entire $180,000 in new levy capacity. Chair Nathaniel said a 5 to 6 percent override above the statutory 2.5 percent cap appears necessary, estimating it would cost the average household roughly triple a normal year's tax increase.

"If we don't pass an override, we're losing, like, a police officer, and we're losing library hours," he said. South County EMS and Senior Center budgets remain unknown pending a March 23 joint four-town meeting, and the boards plan to vote on a final override percentage at their March 9 joint session.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of March 2, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.