WESTHAMPTON — At a five-hour Town Meeting last weekend, Westhampton voters approved a $7.6 million operating budget, gave the town permission to acquire and preserve more than 200 acres, approved borrowing for a solar array on the public safety complex and more.

Discussions around bylaw language and school funding generated the lengthiest discussions, but the town’s $1.6 million budget for Hampshire Regional School and $2.2 million budget for Westhampton Elementary sailed through the meeting with “no close calls” in voting, according to Town Coordinator Doug Finn.

Voters decided not to fund police department requests for additional hours and the replacement of a police vehicle.

As in many municipalities this year, the town’s budget was stretched thin by a more than 25% increase in health insurance costs. Finn told the Gazette ahead of Town Meeting that the $620,000 needed to cover health insurance in the next fiscal year will make up about 8% of the town’s entire budget.

“It was kind of astonishing to see that kind of increase,” Finn said. “Our health insurance line alone ate up all of our new revenue.”

While no overrides were needed this year to cover school or town costs, Finn said that the town “drew down on savings a lot to make this budget work.” He anticipates more challenges balancing the budget while meeting resident needs in subsequent years.

“If not next year, at some point the math is not going to add up,” added Select Board member Jennifer Milikowsky.

235 acres to be preserved

Voters gave the town permission to acquire roughly 235 acres on Tob Hill Road for $1 million to be conserved in partnership with Kestrel Land Trust. The amount will ultimately be covered by a grant that Kestrel is applying for. The two parcels of land will be owned and conserved by the town, but will remain open for passive recreation.

Milikowsky explained that this acquisition will “double the size of our conservation area that the town owns.”

An information sheet provided by Kestrel Land Trust explains that two additional nearby parcels of land will also be conserved at no cost to the town by The Trustees of Reservations and Hilltown Land Trust, which will bring the total conserved acreage up to 800 acres. This land would connect to 2,200 acres of permanently conserved land to create a 3,000-acre block of protected forests.

The land will be acquired by the town in early 2026 if a Landscape Partnership grant if awarded to reimburse the town for the acquisitions.

Finn said that this acquisition is important to many in the town, especially those who enjoy hunting and look forward to using the land for such activities. When the measure passed, Town Hall erupted in cheers.

Solar array

Also approved at the meeting was a $230,000 borrowing amount to put a solar array on the roof of the town’s public safety complex. This array will provide energy for both the public safety complex and the highway department building, and the town anticipates breaking even or potentially gaining money from this addition.

Finn called this approval a “big win” for Westhampton.

The town recently installed solar panels for the Town Hall and Town Annex buildings, and is also planning to add an array and storage system at Westhampton Elementary School using grant funding. These additions will result in net-zero energy usage from the grid in town buildings.

School budget

Aside from fixed costs, Milikowsky said that the town’s school expenses are a major “driver” of the town’s budget.

She explained that the town voted to fully support the schools, which is in line with the town’s historic support for robust education. However, the school budget still warranted a significant amount of conversation because past years of administrative difficulties have left the town with “a lack of information,” Milikowsky said. She noted that the town just needs better data on actual expenses “to feel more confident in that support.”

Hampshire Regional Superintendent Vito Perrone said that with this being his first budget experience within the district, a major focus was addressing the remaining difficulties from pervious years.

“It’s been really challenging, really complicated,” he said. “We have a really good team working on this.”

Perrone said he and his team were dedicated to creating transparency and collaboration around the budget, and felt that the meeting was “really positive” overall.

Some concern has been raised in the district about the elimination of three positions that will come with the coming year’s budget. Current plans for staffing cuts involve “absorbing” the retirement of a library position, cutting half of an unfulfilled position, and one layoff in the art department.

Perrone said that only one visual arts class section will be lost with this reduction, but acknowledged that the cut will unfortunately impact the individual being laid off, and that “the class size is going to be a little bigger in the art department.”

Southampton, Westhampton and Chesterfield have all passed their portions of the fiscal 2026 Hampshire Regional budget. Four out of the five districts must pass their portions of the budget for the district to move forward, and Perrone expressed that there is some anxiety about reaching that threshold as Williamsburg and Goshen’s Town Meetings approach.

Bylaw changes

Milikowsky explained that bylaw articles took up the bulk of Town Meeting discussion because of questions and discussion surrounding their language and implementation. Most of the bylaw articles on this year’s warrant were intended to “clean up” the language of existing bylaws, but still garnered some concern.

A bylaw governing the presence of “junk” unregistered vehicles in public view was voted down by residents, while a bylaw about town permitting of large events was passed over so town officials could review and refine the language before bringing it back before the town.

Milikowsky explained that this bylaw is important because events like backyard weddings are a big part of Westhampton’s culture — she and her partner were even married in their own back yard. But some of the bylaw’s language “wasn’t clear enough,” she said, and will be taken up for further review.

A bylaw change that passed Town Meeting simply updated town zoning bylaw language to be compliant with state regulations.

While this year’s Town Meeting was a long one, Milikowsky said that “overall, there was really wonderful energy,” and resident engagement was passionate and thoughtful.

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