Manchester Finance Committee Recommends $30 Million Capital Package for Town Meeting

MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA — March 26, 2026 — Manchester-by-the-Sea's Finance Committee voted to recommend more than $30 million in bonded capital projects for the upcoming Town Meeting, while deferring its position on a $350,000 Senior Community Center appropriation pending a property closing expected within days. The committee, meeting Thursday with Chair Sarah Mellish, members Maury Creighton, Peter Twining, and Dean Mahanas in the room and Gar participating remotely, recommended the full capital slate including a $16.5 million PFAS water treatment bond, a $5 million Central Street culvert bond, a $4.1 million Tappan Street article, a $2 million rotunda bond, and a $1.9 million harbor dredging article — each structured as a debt exclusion. The capital budget vote was 4-1 and the PFAS, Tappan Street, and dredging article votes were also 4-1, with Mahanas dissenting on each. The committee voted unanimously to recommend a $420,000 OPEB prefunding payment from taxation, which Town Administrator Tony Barlow said would make Manchester one of fewer than 10 Massachusetts communities with a fully funded retiree health liability. Mellish flagged the town's operating budget as growing 11 percent year over year in fiscal year 2027 even as the overall tax rate rises only 2 percent, identifying health insurance, a new trash contract, and rising debt service as the primary drivers, and committed to adding an explanatory paragraph to the Finance Committee's annual report before Town Meeting.