Holliston Select Board Amends Warrant, Defers FY2027 Budget Vote to April

Select Board · Meeting of March 23, 2026

Holliston Select Board opens and closes town meeting warrant, defers budget vote. The board voted 3-0 at its March 23 meeting to open the May 2026 Annual Town Meeting warrant, remove Article 16 on town clerk compensation and a Bylaw Review Committee article, and then close it again. Chair Benjamin Sparrell separately apologized in a personal public statement for the town's handling of communications around its appeal of a Building Code Appeals Board ruling involving the Boston Honey Company, saying "we have not communicated well" and asking Town Manager Frank Gervasio to develop solutions for the board's review after the May 11 Town Meeting.

The board reached consensus on a FY2027 Level 3 budget that reallocates $14,100 from road rehabilitation and police overtime to ambulance holiday pay equity, Council on Aging services, and DPW overtime, with a formal vote set for April 6. The board also authorized Gervasio to apply for $5 million in congressional spending for the Downtown Sewer Project, a capital effort with an estimated annual debt service of $2.5 million that could add roughly $200 to the average Holliston tax bill under a proposed 50-50 levy and excluded-debt split. Resident Kiel Brinster, 135 Dodd Drive, told the board his Queens neighborhood has been plagued by rats, flies, and odors from a neighboring sub-acre lot operating with livestock, saying seven abutters have spent more than $10,000 pursuing zoning enforcement that has so far failed.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of March 23, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.