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Winchester’s Select Board has begun charting a course of action after voters rejected an $11.5 million Proposition 2½ override on March 21, with board members agreeing that both spending cuts and new revenue will be needed to close a budget gap that could reach $6.7 million.
The March 30 discussion was prompted in part by a four-page memo from board member Bill McGonigle dated March 24. The memo, titled “Proposed Next Steps and Timeline in Wake of Override Failure,” laid out six immediate actions ranging from raising transfer station fees to placing a new override question on the November ballot.
Town Manager Chris Senior told the board he had already begun responding to the vote.
“I did meet with staff today, department heads. We went over post-override questions,” Senior said. “Put a hiring freeze into effect, put discretionary spending limits in effect. And I’ve asked everyone take a hard look at their budgets and get back to me with options going forward.”
McGonigle’s memo argued the town must shift from revenue expansion to “active reallocation of our existing funding,” writing that voters were presented with a rigorous and balanced plan and declined.
The takeaway, he wrote, was that residents “do not want to invest more at this time and instead want us to make hard decisions about our spending before returning to them.”
The memo’s most immediately actionable proposal called for increasing commercial fee rates at the transfer station by 50% over fiscal year 2025 levels, a move McGonigle said could generate $300,000 to $400,000 in new revenue. He wrote the board should post notice for a hearing at its next meeting and begin collecting the higher fees as soon as May 1, ahead of the fiscal year 2027 start.
McGonigle also proposed reducing benefits for municipal retirees by lowering the town’s contribution to other post-employment benefits to the state statutory floor, a change he estimated could save at least $1.125 million of the $1.5 million the town currently spends annually.
Other proposals included outsourcing custodial services performed by roughly 30 Department of Public Works employees, directing the town manager to identify departmental reductions focused on quality-of-life services rather than public safety, urging the Winchester Community Preservation Committee to prioritize capital projects and signaling the board’s intent to bring a revised override question to voters in November.
A November override question would need to be finalized and submitted to the state 120 days before the election. McGonigle’s memo noted the board had 99 days from March 30 to meet that deadline and proposed a timeline beginning with a draft question at a late April or early May meeting, a public hearing and vote in June and a July 6 submission.
Comptroller Stacie A. Ward told the board the fiscal year 2027 budget had been balanced with roughly $5.1 million in free cash, along with $430,000 in town-side cuts and $980,000 in school cuts. She said the town would likely use about $3.5 million of free cash to close out fiscal year 2026 and cautioned the balance would be tight going forward.
Board members largely agreed on the broad direction, but differed on pace.
Michelle Prior, the outgoing chair, urged the board to first learn why the override failed.
“I think there’s some lessons to learn from that override, and I think we ought to be working with town manager to do focus groups, listening sessions, surveys,” Prior said.
She added she expected a new ballot question within the year. McGonigle pushed for faster action.
“I think that one thing we just can’t take as granted is that any override will ever pass,” he said. “And so I would like to start seeing some action by us.”
He called for a hearing on transfer station commercial rates as soon as the following week and urged the board to begin identifying cuts immediately.
The board agreed to seek a joint meeting with the School Committee and Finance Committee as early as the week of April 6 to align on a unified budget approach ahead of the April 27 Town Meeting.
Prior noted financial articles cannot be taken up until the third night, giving the bodies roughly a month to assemble a revised plan balancing cuts, fee increases and free cash.
Senior said he expected to have a first round of departmental reduction options for the board within a week or two.
Will Dowd is a Massachusetts journalist who covers municipal government and community life for Winchester News. He runs The Marblehead Independent, a reader-funded digital newsroom.
