Whitman Board of Health Submits Level-Funded Budget, Flags Rising Program Costs

WHITMAN — November 17, 2025 — Whitman Board of Health accepts a level-funded budget proposal and awaits a community health report due by year's end. Meeting with only two of three members present, Chair Danielle Clancy and member Tom Evans heard Health Agent Dan Kelly describe a town administrator directive to submit flat budgets with a 2.5 percent increase limited to salary lines alone. Clancy called the proposal "zero funded" and "not sustainable in any sense," noting that vendor costs continue to rise while the department has already eliminated its sharps take-back day and discontinued radius clinics for lack of funds. Kelly flagged two budget priorities — household hazardous waste collection costs and the loss of part-time administrative hours — that he plans to raise at the board's Finance Committee appearance on January 13. Kelly also reported that a community health improvement survey conducted in the spring is expected to produce final results by the end of December.