HAWLEY — Nineteen residents voted in favor of a $676,165 education budget for fiscal year 2027 during Monday’s Annual Town Meeting, the largest increase in which comes from the vocational school budget that rose from $70,000 in fiscal year 2026 to $190,000.
Vocational Education Advisory Committee Chair Suzanne Crawford told voters, who gathered at the Town Office, that the town has only two students attending Franklin County Technical School this school year, and is expecting six students to attend during the 2026-2027 school year.
Hawley’s portion of the Hawlemont Regional School District budget decreased from $256,079 in FY26 to $234,221 in FY27, and for the Mohawk Trail Regional School District, the assessment increased from $243,681 to $251,944.
The town’s total budget for non-school operations was also approved at $714,896, representing an 8.14% increase from the current fiscal year.
Only one article inspired substantial discussion. Article 18 proposed transferring $36,000 from the Highway Stabilization Fund to cover a FY26 snow removal deficit.
“We have to pay for this one way or another, it’s just a question of whether we pay for it out of stabilization, which is our savings account, or whether it comes off the recap sheet at the end,” Finance Committee Chair Lloyd Crawford said, questioning the payment source. “[Snow removal] is the one thing the town is allowed to overspend on, because of the unpredictability of snow. So we’re not adding any money to stabilization accounts this year, which is different than many other years … yet we’re taking money out here to pay for something that is not really a one-off expense.”
Selectboard member Hussain Hamdan disagreed, however, and advocated for paying off the deficit using the Highway Stabilization Fund.
“If we get to the end of the fiscal year and we have money left over, we can put money into stabilization,” Hamdan said. “If it turns out that there’s not money left over, I think we will need to take a hard look and revisit the budget and maybe increase that.”
Voters ultimately approved Article 18 in a 10-6 vote, allowing the Highway Stabilization Fund to be used to cover the snow removal deficit.
Articles 15 and 19, pertaining to the Fire Station Building Improvement Account and the Highway Stabilization Fund, were passed over, as no one had yet come up with sums to propose to be transferred. All other requests on the 29-article warrant passed without substantial discussion and the meeting adjourned in about 40 minutes.