Whitman Budget Subcommittee Elects Chair, Targets September for Financial Policy Overhaul

WHITMAN -- July 14, 2026, Whitman's new Budget Subcommittee organized Tuesday and set a late-September target to overhaul the town's financial policy. Board of Selectmen member Dawn Byers was elected chair by unanimous vote at the body's inaugural July 14 meeting, with Finance Committee member Sean Kane, who had led prior budget discussions, seconding the nomination. The subcommittee, which also includes Finance Committee members Devo Brin, Mary Beth Cotter, Ryan Trussell, and Mike Flanagan, spent the bulk of the hour examining Rockland's 78-page financial policy and Stoughton's May 2026 document as models to replace Whitman's current three-to-four-page policy. Discussion ranged across Plymouth County retirement assessments growing at 8 to 12 percent annually through fiscal year 2032, whether capital debt exclusions could free up free cash to cover pension costs, and a Town Assessor finding that some commercial properties, including a Myrtle Avenue parcel, may have been underassessed by third-party vendor Catalyst. Both Byers and Kane agreed to independently review eight policy topic areas before the next meeting, set for July 28 at 5 p.m.