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China Select Board sends proposed Budget Committee ordinance to June ballot and opens 2026–27 budget review
Summary
At its Feb. 24 meeting the China Select Board voted 3-0 to place a proposed Budget Committee ordinance on the June ballot and began deliberations on the 2026–2027 municipal budget, setting additional budget-focus sessions for March 9 and March 16.
The China Select Board voted 3-0 on Feb. 24 to place a proposed Budget Committee ordinance on the June ballot and opened review of the town’s 2026–2027 municipal budget.
The motion to send the ordinance to the ballot was made by Edwin Bailey and seconded by Thomas Rumpf; the vote was recorded as Ayes: 3, Nays: 0, Abstains: 0. Town Manager Becky Hapgood and board members then began a line-item review of the proposed budget, covering municipal services; boards and committees; public safety; the transfer station; public works; social services; community support organizations; contingency; county obligations; FirstPark; and the town’s TIF account.
The board set two days in March for focused budget work: March 9 and March 16. Manager Hapgood and board members indicated those sessions will be used to refine departmental requests and discuss potential adjustments; the minutes do not record whether public hearings on the budget were scheduled.
Why it matters: placing the Budget Committee ordinance on the ballot would change how the town’s budget process is governed (the minutes record the board’s decision to refer the ordinance to voters but do not include the ordinance text). The start of line-item deliberations begins the formal seasonal process that leads to final budget adoption and appropriations.
What happened next: the Select Board continued detailed review of the listed budget categories and agreed to reconvene on the March dates to finalize recommendations before statutory deadlines. The minutes indicate the board intends further consideration rather than immediate adoption at the Feb. 24 meeting.
The minutes were approved by the board at a subsequent meeting; the clerk’s record lists the minutes as published on March 5, 2026, and adopted on March 9, 2026.
