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Easton Board of Finance recommends $50,000 for legal costs and $60,000 for police overtime
Summary
The Board of Finance voted unanimously to recommend two special appropriations — $50,000 to shore up the FY26 legal budget and $60,000 for police overtime — and will ask the Board of Selectmen to place them on the April 27 town meeting agenda.
The Town of Easton Board of Finance voted April 7 to recommend two special appropriations from the undesignated fund balance: $50,000 to cover an expected shortfall in the FY26 legal budget and $60,000 to cover overtime in the Police Department.
Chair Art Laske said the legal line had been increased earlier in the year from $100,000 to $120,000 but is now expected to be exhausted before June 30. Finance Director Chris Calvert told the board she had conferred with the town’s attorneys and recommended a conservative additional $50,000 to avoid running out of funds.
The police overtime shortfall arose, Calvert said, because of sick-day payments for a retired chief and several officers being out of the schedule, which pushed overtime expenditures beyond the current allocation. She recommended adding $60,000 to the Police Department overtime line to cover those costs.
Board motions to recommend both special appropriations to the Board of Selectmen — to be considered at a town meeting — passed unanimously, 6-0. The legal appropriation motion was moved and seconded as recorded at the meeting; the police appropriation motion likewise carried 6-0.
Next steps: the Board of Finance will forward its recommendations to the Board of Selectmen for placement on the town-meeting warrant scheduled for April 27, 2026.
