Lee Town Meeting Approves $25.8 Million Budget and $2.5 Million Fire Station Reuse Plan

LENOX — May 14, 2026 — Lee Town Meeting approves $25.8 million budget and $2.5 million fire station reuse authorization. Voters at the May 14 Annual Town Meeting in Lee passed all 26 warrant articles, including a $25,770,872.91 general fund operating budget that allocates $12,253,051 to the School Department and $3,978,128 for health insurance. The meeting's largest single action authorized appropriating $2.5 million — $500,000 from available funds and $2 million in new borrowing — to adaptively reuse the central fire station and EMS buildings as a community center; a town official noted Lee has applied for $1.8 million in grants that, if successful, could eliminate the borrowing entirely. Voters also funded $44,000 for a Floridan herbicide treatment of invasive milfoil in Laurel Lake, a project the Laurel Lake Preservation Association spent 30 years permitting, and enacted bylaws reducing the speed limit to 25 miles per hour in all thickly settled districts and imposing a six-month moratorium on commercial battery energy storage systems while the Planning Board drafts permanent regulations.