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Select Board unanimously recommends most Annual Town Meeting warrant articles, declines petition on senior tax relief
Summary
The board voted unanimously to recommend a wide slate of warrant articles for the annual town meeting, including FY26 transfers of $1,238,500, the FY27 operating budget, enterprise budgets (EMS $1,049,026; Golf $1,690,590), Home Rule petitions on meal tax and golf trust, and a bylaw banning cryptocurrency ATMs; the board voted not to recommend a petition on senior tax relief.
The Lynnfield Select Board on March 30 voted unanimously to recommend a broad package of warrant articles for the upcoming Annual Town Meeting, approving budget transfers and multiple Home Rule petition requests while declining to recommend a petition on senior tax relief.
During the meeting the board approved a motion recommending Article 4, described in the meeting record as Fiscal Year 2026 transfers totaling $1,238,500 from free cash to cover items including a snow and ice deficit, provisions of a fire union contract agreement and Middle School auditorium improvements. The board also recommended the FY27 operating budget (Article 6) and the FY27 capital budget (Article 9).
Select Board members recorded enterprise budget amounts for the coming year: the EMS enterprise budget was listed at $1,049,026 and the Golf enterprise budget at $1,690,590. The board recommended Article 12, which seeks filing of a Home Rule Petition to allow up to $100,000 in golf receipts to be placed in a trust fund for athletic field replacement, and Article 13, which seeks filing of a Home Rule Petition to permit increasing the local meals excise to 1.5 percent. The board also voted to recommend administrative changes, including Article 14 (allowing department heads to set departmental fees after a public hearing with Select Board approval), revised fee schedules for the Fire and Building Departments (Articles 15 and 16), and a bylaw change to the Traffic Safety Advisory Committee (Article 17). The board unanimously recommended Article 18, described in the record as adoption of a new bylaw banning cryptocurrency automated teller machines. The board voted not to recommend Article 19, a petition article seeking a nonbinding vote to have the town review senior tax relief options.
All recorded recommendations in the meeting were approved on motions made by Vice Chair Alexis Leahy and seconded by Member Richard Dalton; votes on these motions were recorded as unanimous. The Select Board did not debate or amend the amounts recorded in the motions during this session; the meeting minutes reflect the board's recommendations as its formal position heading into Annual Town Meeting.
