South Berwick council reaches consensus on FY26 draft that includes town-run EMS

South Berwick Town Council members agreed by consensus on a draft FY26 budget option that adds a town-run emergency medical services (EMS) program, applies a 50% temporary reduction to capital improvement program (CIP) spending, and plans a $1,000,000 withdrawal from undesignated funds.

The council’s consensus on “option 4.2” came during the third FY26 budget workshop; staff will prepare a draft budget for review at the council’s March 25 meeting and a public hearing at the April 8 meeting before final votes on warrant articles in May. Councilor Jeff said he intends to oppose the final budget vote, but four other councilors indicated support for the chosen option.

Council staff presented four families of budget options showing different combinations of: whether to add a municipal EMS service; whether to restore portions of CIP; and whether to withdraw $900,000 or $1,000,000 from undesignated reserves. The selected option — 4.2 — includes the EMS program, restores 50% of CIP requests, and uses a $1,000,000 undesignated-fund withdrawal. Finance staff said option 4.2 produces an estimated town-budget increase of about 6.6…