Great Barrington Adopts $16.4M Operating Budget Plan Dependent on $2M Ballot Question

LENOX -- April 7, 2026, Great Barrington's joint Select Board and Finance Committee approved no votes but spent more than three hours dissecting a proposed FY27 operating budget of $16,354,835, a 5.78 percent cut from the current year, and a free cash plan built around certified reserves of $11,248,266. Town Manager Liz Munro presented the budget as meeting every board priority set March 19: a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment for all employees, no layoffs, no hour reductions, and just over $1 million in operating savings achieved through centralized purchasing, a non-union hiring freeze on three positions, and moving the lifeguard program, co-responder initiative, and VFW and American Legion lease assistance into special articles. A procurement audit placeholder of $1 million dominates the free cash picture after auditors found more than $800,000 in potential irregularities in a single DPW project signed by staff rather than the town manager, with two more projects still under review. Southern Berkshire Regional EMS CFO Patrick told the boards that federal Medicaid and Medicare cuts of 10 percent each had driven projected ambulance revenue down from $1.7 million to $1.5 million, and that the operating assessment for Great Barrington is $414,676, a separate citizen petition article seeks an additional $490,000 for the town's share of two ambulances already on order. Munro warned that if a $2 million Proposition 2½ override or debt exclusion ballot question fails, free cash would fall to approximately $171,000, eliminating lifeguards, the ambulance assessment, and all free-cash-dependent capital projects.