Wakefield Select Board approves ten FY27 budgets, sets May 4 town meeting

Select Board · Meeting of February 9, 2026

Wakefield's Select Board approved ten departmental FY27 budgets in unanimous 7-0 votes and set the annual town meeting for May 4 at the Galvin Middle School Auditorium. Town Administrator Dee Casey and Finance Director Liz presented budgets covering the Tax Department, Inspectional Services, Recreation, Fire Alarm and Traffic Signals, Board of Appeals, Street Lights, Historical Commission, Unemployment, the $400,000 Finance Committee Reserve Fund, and Professional Medical, with the Street Lights account held at $178,131 and the Reserve Fund level-funded amid a board suggestion to adopt an annual 3 percent inflator. Inspectional Services head Ben reported building permits have grown from roughly 800 in 2023 to 2,108 in calendar year 2025, with $1.2 million in building-permit revenue in FY25, and said a fee schedule review was underway.

The board also voted 7-0 to appoint Tess Kohansky to the Economic Development Council and 7-0 to grant an ethics exemption to EDC Chair Alison Houghton, allowing her to continue signing quarterly financial reports despite her concurrent board memberships at WCAT and the Wakefield Chamber of Commerce. The warrant for town meeting opens February 9 and closes at noon on March 13.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of February 9, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.