Finance Committee Endorses Fiscal 2026 Budget 6-2 Before Town Meeting

WHITMAN -- June 11, 2025, Whitman Finance Committee recommends austerity FY26 budget 6-2, with veterans compliance warning hanging over the vote. Meeting just 30 minutes before the annual town meeting opened, the committee endorsed the Board of Selectmen's Fiscal 2026 consolidated budget, a spending plan that eliminates 23 Whitman-Hanson Regional School District positions and cuts two town jobs following the failure of a tax override. Two members identified as Mike A. and Mike W. voted against, with one abstention. Veterans Agent Declan Wareham appeared unscheduled to warn that reducing his position from full-time to part-time violates 108 CMR Section 14, which applies to towns over 12,000 residents, and could cause the state to cut Chapter 115 veterans benefit reimbursements from 75 percent to 50 percent, against a backdrop of $109,606 in benefits distributed in Fiscal 2025 alone. A member identified as Kevin noted that if Hanson's June 28 town meeting fails to resolve a school funding gap, both towns could face a 1/12th emergency school budget cutting roughly $3 million from district funding starting July 1.