Great Barrington Town Meeting Passes $16.3M Budget, Postpones $1M Procurement Reserve

LENOX — May 2, 2026 — Great Barrington Annual Town Meeting approves $16.3 million budget and $5 million cannabis settlement transfer, defers ambulance capital vote. Voters meeting Saturday at Monument Mountain Regional High School approved the fiscal year 2027 general fund operating budget of $16,345,834 and voted to transfer $5,026,008 from free cash to reconcile court-approved settlements with four marijuana retailers — Theory Wellness, Rebel, Farnsworth Fine Cannabis, and Calix Berkshire Dispensary — after Town Counsel David Doneski warned that a no vote would shift the debt to the tax levy. A $1 million reserve fund sought by Town Manager Liz Hartsgrove to cover obligations uncovered in an ongoing procurement audit — the current identified figure is $869,395 — was indefinitely postponed on a motion by voter Peter Most, who argued the funds were better directed toward lifeguards, a co-responder program, and a police cruiser contingent on a May 12 Proposition 2.5 override election. A $240,000 capital appropriation for two new Southern Berkshire Ambulance Squad vehicles was also indefinitely postponed after Finance Committee members objected to committing funds without a signed contract; squad representatives collected roughly 150 petition signatures during the meeting to seek a special town meeting for the additional $86,899 gap in operating funding the Finance Committee declined to authorize. The Berkshire Hills Regional School District assessment of $23,873,781 — a 7.8 percent net increase — passed over a split 3-to-2 Finance Committee recommendation, with dissenting members citing enrollment declines and long-term affordability.