Maynard Town Meeting Approves FY2027 Budget, New Solid Waste Enterprise Fund

MAYNARD — May 18, 2026 — Maynard's Annual Town Meeting approved the FY2027 general fund budget, a new solid waste enterprise fund, and a slate of water infrastructure borrowings in a session that ran past midnight Monday. Voters backed a school budget of $25.575 million — $397,405 above the town's allocation — with Superintendent Brian Haas explaining that attrition savings and $200,000 from revolving accounts would close the gap while reinstating two teaching positions and adding a full-time athletic trainer. A free cash appropriation under Article 4 directed one-time capital spending to Fowler School doors, high school lighting, two police cruisers, a DPW wood chipper, a new hook-load truck, Alumni Field ADA improvements, body-worn police cameras, and a seed reserve for the new solid waste program. A proposed $3,000-to-$4,500 annual stipend for retirement board members was rejected 38-209, while a new outdoor lighting bylaw passed 135-18 after a drafting error in the holiday-lighting exemption required two successive amendments. A tax-repayment program allowing residents in arrears to avoid tax liens passed its secret ballot by the narrowest margin of the night, 43-37, over Finance Committee objection.