Stoneham Bi-Board Approves FY27 Budget, Refers It to Finance Advisory Board

STONEHAM — March 3, 2026 — Stoneham Select Board approves FY27 budget built around override restoration, sends it to Finance Advisory Board. The joint Select Board and Finance Advisory Board session on March 3 featured FY27 budget presentations from the Stoneham Public Library, the Council on Aging, the Fire Department, and the Department of Public Works before the Select Board voted 4-0 to approve the full budget as presented and refer it to the Finance Advisory Board for further review at its April 9 hearing. Library Director Rachel Overbeck requested $1,077,914 — including a salary line of $802,566 and a Noble network membership assessment of $48,598 — to restore three frozen positions and return to full operating hours. COA Director Kristen Spence highlighted a $40,000 budget addition to fund part of a social worker position at the Stoneham Housing Authority and noted the town's 60-and-over population is projected to grow from 6,193 to 7,200 by 2030. The Fire Chief reported the department ran at minimum staffing of eight firefighters 76 percent of the past year, with overtime at 14.9 percent of the personnel budget, and said a Metro Chiefs survey found Stoneham's fire budget trails peer communities by roughly $1 million. DPW Director Brett Gonzalez flagged that private snowplow contractor availability fell from 35 pieces of equipment to 10 this season and warned the town's $1.3 million trash contract expires June 30, 2027, with an industrywide shift to automated collection expected to require a costly barrel purchase. The session closed with an unresolved debate over whether roughly $1.3 million in budget surplus — freed by lower-than-expected MWRA and Northeast Metro Tech assessments — should be held in a dedicated trash subsidy account or in the more flexible stabilization fund, with the Select Board chair arguing for the trash account and another member favoring stabilization.