Norton Town Meeting Passes $81.3 Million FY2027 Operating Budget by Majority Vote

NORTON -- May 18, 2026, Norton Annual Town Meeting approves $81.3 million operating budget and narrowly passes contested position reclassifications. The May 18 meeting voted 73 to 63, on a standing count, the only recorded tally of the evening, to reclassify a Director of Senior Services and a Human Resources Generalist position under Article 5, over Finance Committee objections; Finance Committee Chair James Rotundi said the committee originally voted the article down outright before reconsidering to "no action," telling the meeting the administration had previously described the matter as "a next year thing" before presenting it with insufficient lead time. Assistant Town Manager Shannon McMahon cited roughly $500,000 in health insurance savings since February, achieved by negotiating the town's HMO premium increase from 13 percent down to 7 percent, as evidence the HR Generalist role pays for itself. Town Manager Brian Gould called the $81,281,282 operating budget a "reset year" in a three-year plan to close a structural spending gap he pegged at approximately $2.5 million, with this budget reducing it by $720,000. A proposed sewer tie-in reform and a brownfields tax abatement bylaw both generated extended public debate; the sewer article was referred back to committee, while the brownfields bylaw passed after a referral motion failed, opening the door to negotiations over contaminated sites including the former Reed and Barton property on Elm Street.