SOUTHAMPTON — At the annual Town Meeting on May 6, residents will weigh in on the town’s roughly $24 million fiscal 2026 budget – including whether to approve an $879,000 override to cover unexpected costs at Norris Elementary School. 

Other items on the Town Meeting warrant include bylaw amendments, appropriations for projects such as the town’s water main replacement and more. But, according to Town Administrator Scott Szczebak, “the biggest thing is definitely going to be the budget question.” 

With unanticipated financial needs cropping up in the elementary school and a sizable increase to the town’s municipal insurance premiums, Szczebak said this year’s budget will allow the town government to maintain level services, albeit with some belt-tightening. 

“We did a lot of cutting on the municipal side,” Szczebak said. “We operate on a very tight budget on our side.”

Even with municipal cost cutting, maintaining services with the proposed fiscal 2026 budget has meant an increase from the $21 million budget voters saw at last year’s Town Meeting. This year’s meeting warrant also proposes two different budgets: one contingent on the Norris School override, and one without it. 

The additional appropriation for the Norris School comes in at about $897,000, and Szczebak explained it is meant to cover unexpected increases in special education needs, as well as contractual salary increases and central office needs. This appropriation would mean about a 16% increase in the Norris School budget over last year, while the proposed budget excluding the appropriation would present an increase of about 4%. 

The total budget without the Norris appropriation comes out to about $23.5 million, while the budget with the appropriation totals roughly $24.2 million. If the override passes at the Town Meeting and the May 20 town election, the anticipated increase in town property taxes would be 82 cents per $1,000. For example, the average Southampton home with an assessed value of $433,171 would see a tax increase of $355.20.

Another source of rising costs in the town, Szczebak explained, is an 18% increase in municipal health insurance premiums. This has been a trend across municipalities in the region largely attributed to a higher number of health insurance claims since the COVID-19 pandemic. This trend has been straining budgets in cities and towns in the area and beyond, and Szczebak said the extra cost was “a big hit” to the budget this year.

On this year’s Town Meeting warrant, residents will see the budget broken down into line items and the reasons for those costs. Szczebak said that this detailed breakdown is an effort to increase transparency for voters.

Other items

While the budget will likely garner the most attention on this year’s warrant, voters will decide on 30 articles ranging from cash transfers to bylaw amendments.

One of these additional articles asks Town Meeting voters for permission for the town to borrow $2 million for the replacement and upgrading of town water mains on College Highway. Another article will ask voters to consider an amendment to the town’s bylaws regarding swimming pools, which was passed along from the special Town Meeting held in March and clarified due to some confusion that arose at that previous meeting.

The Town Meeting warrant is available on the town website. A recorded discussion of the meeting articles which was hosted by Town Moderator Robert Floyd on Thursday night can be viewed via Easthampton Media. Southampton’s Town Meeting will be held on May 6 at 7 p.m. at Norris Elementary School.

The town election will take place on May 20. At the election, voters will be confronted once again with questions regarding the $3.2 million debt exclusion passed at March’s special Town Meeting for the engineering and architectural services for the construction of a new public safety complex, as well as the Norris Elementary School override. The Norris School override will appear on the ballot regardless of whether it passes at Town Meeting, but if the measure doesn’t pass, it will be null on the ballot.

Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.