BUCKLAND — The 158 voters at Tuesday’s Annual Town Meeting unanimously supported the fiscal year 2027 town budget of $2.75 million that hinges on the passage of an override at the ballot box on June 2, while simultaneously striking down the Mohawk Trail Regional School District and Franklin County Technical School’s operating assessments.
Mohawk Trail’s operating assessment came in at $3.29 million, a 9.9% increase over fiscal year 2026, while Franklin Tech’s operating assessment saw a 9.3% increase at $332,955. Buckland’s operating budget for town services represents a 10.4% increase over the $2.49 million budget for FY26, and takes a proposed $500,000 override into account.
Both school assessment articles were not recommended by the Selectboard and Finance Committee, and ultimately failed to pass, with a 88-65 vote for Mohawk Trail and a 63-51 vote for Franklin Tech.
Mohawk Trail School Committee Chair Martha Thurber, who lives in Buckland, spoke on the severe staffing cuts that have already been made in the wake of rising fixed costs.
“This is hard, it’s horrible, and no one’s happy about it,” Thurber said. “This is a terrible budget year for Buckland and Mohawk Trail.”
Paula Consolo, a member of the Finance Committee, said she couldn’t “remember a time in the last 20 years” when both the Selectboard and Finance Committee unanimously voted to not recommend school operating assessments. She said, however, that voting down the school budget does not represent a vote against education.
Mohawk Trail’s total FY27 budget is $28.9 million, representing a 6.24% increase over FY26. Consolo said that while it’s painful to cut from the budget, “it’s less painful to cut $500,000 from $29 million than from $3 million,” referring to Buckland’s operating budget.
Resident Janice Sorensen asked Thurber, “short of firing teachers, what are some ways that money could be saved?” Thurber replied that “unfortunately,” 85% of the school budget is made up of either staff salary or benefits.
C.W. Leach, a resident of Buckland and eighth grade English teacher at Frontier Regional School, pointed out that even if Buckland voted down Mohawk Trail’s operating assessment, it ultimately might not matter as other towns in the district could approve it.
If that turned out to be the case, Buckland would not have a choice and would need to fund its Mohawk Trail operating assessment.
“We could walk out on the ledge and not be followed by anybody,” Leach said.
Selectboard Chair Clint Phillips said he felt Buckland was already on that ledge, and that “unfortunately, [the school operating assessment] is the biggest tax burden on every town.”
To have a budget in place by the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, the district’s budget must be approved by at least two-thirds of its eight member towns. Of the Annual Town Meetings that have been held so far, Buckland and Colrain have voted down their assessments to Mohawk Trail, while Ashfield and Shelburne approved them.
The discussion was shorter for Franklin Tech’s operating assessment. Adam Griffin, Buckland’s representative on the Franklin Tech School Committee, said he was there to answer any questions. Two came from the audience: what students are learning at Franklin Tech and how many attend the school.
Griffin said Buckland currently has 23 allotted spots at Franklin Tech, and that there’s a “wide range” of trades that students can study, including aviation and electrical work. Regarding the 9.3% increase over FY26’s assessment to Buckland, he said that “insurance is where we saw the biggest hit this year.”
In contrast to the operating assessments, both articles for the Mohawk Trail and Franklin Tech capital expenses, paying debt for projects already completed, passed quickly.
Before the vote on Buckland’s operating budget in Article 4, Finance Committee Chair Larry Langford explained that if the voters approved the town’s budget, the Proposition 2½ override would appear on the June 2 town election ballot.
Langford said the $500,000 override would raise the tax rate to an estimated $18.27 per $1,000 of assessed value. For the owner of a $350,000 house, the tax bill would increase by $530. He said that by passing the override, the town could cover its deficit and refill some of its reserves.
A failed override, Langford said, would result in “dramatic cuts to town services.” He said if the override doesn’t pass, it would be very likely that town officials would “be here again next year at this time to fund a projected FY28 budget, which at that time, would likely be for an even larger amount than is being sought now for FY27.”
“Today is a dramatic example of how difficult [these decisions] can be,” Langford said from the Town Meeting floor.
The 18-article warrant did not contain any bylaw changes or citizen’s petitions this year. With the exception of the Mohawk Trail and Franklin Tech operating assessments, all articles passed either unanimously or near-unanimously, including Article 10, allocating $32,000 for the transportation of one student that Buckland sends to Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School in Northampton.
