SOUTHAMPTON — A special town meeting will be held Saturday with one article, that asks residents to vote to reduce the current budget by $195,000 after a request from the Division of Local Services (DLS).
The meeting will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 10, at Norris School, where residents will vote on the one article. The special Town Meeting follows a previous meeting held on Dec. 6.
The fiscal 2026 budget was approved by voters at the annual Town Meeting in May last year, but after review from the DLS, the state has requested the reduction due to a revenue overestimation.
Southampton Town Administrator Scott Szczebak explained the town has to abide by the request from the DLS and the budget reduction can be done legally through a Town Meeting vote.
Szczebak said the reduction will not impact personnel or services. Rather, they are part of spending restrictions that the Selectboard implemented last summer if an economic downturn occurred.
Szczebak said an economic downturn is what many towns are experiencing, not just Southampton.
“Each town is individual so it doesn’t impact everybody evenly,” Szczebak said about predicting revenue. “We are mostly primarily residential so our taxes come from mainly residential tax base.”
If the article passes, the reductions will come from multiple departments: $19,800 from the Town Administrator, $5,000 from the Accountant, $20,000 from the Treasurer/Collector, $57,500 from Fire, $25,000 from Highway, $50,000 from School costs and $17,700 from Police.
Szczbeak said when setting the budget, projecting revenues for the upcoming year is a difficult task, calling it “a moving target.”
“It’s not a perfect system and we’re doing things nine months in advance,” Szczebak said.
The review from the DLS comes after the town set the tax rate, an annual process required by every municipality. At that time, the DLS reviews many financial areas including abatement, estimated receipts and tax growth, where they found the overestimation.
Szczebak said the financial team also found that previously approved debt exclusions had not been recorded with DLS, but now all required documentation on past debt exclusions has been approved.
“I want to thank the hard work of Town Clerk [Lucille] Dalton and Treasurer [Meghan] Kane for sorting through six years of borrowing, Town Meeting warrants and ballot votes back to 2019,” Szczebak said in a statement.
Due to the delay approving the tax rate, tax bills will be sent out immediately after the meeting if the article is approved. Szczebak said this is in part due to recent economic unpredictability, that many towns are facing.
For example, Szczebak said the town estimated new financial growth for fiscal year 2025 at approximately $180,000, but it amounted to more than $200,000. Unfortunately, for fiscal year 2026, new growth is estimated at $120,000, part of the reason for the necessary reductions.
Szczebak said the town’s tax base is mainly residential to help receive income, but during these difficult economic times, it is difficult to make accurate projections.
“Costs like health insurance, school transportation and utilities are skyrocketing, and the state hasn’t done enough to offset these rising costs,” Szczebak said in a statement.