Swampscott Finance Committee Backs Free Cash to Buy $375,000 Recycling Bins

SWAMPSCOTT -- May 14, 2026, Swampscott's Finance Committee leaned toward using $375,000 in free cash to purchase automated recycling bins ahead of Town Meeting, while awaiting final numbers on a new five-year trash-hauling contract. In a non-binding straw poll, all responding members, including Chair Eric Schnitzer, Jared Ulrichsen, Greg Freedman, and Cinder McNally, supported the free cash route under Article 3, with formal action deferred to a 6 p.m. Monday pre-Town Meeting session. Town Administrator Nick Moulton said the December rescission is closing out to free cash on June 30, nearly offsetting the $375,000 cost, though Select Board member Mary Ellen Fletcher cautioned the spending would push the balance temporarily below the town's 3 percent financial policy floor. On the trash contract, a five-year replacement for an agreement roughly 10 years old, Moulton said final pricing, reflecting a modest increase above the 15 percent placeholder already in the fiscal year 2027 budget, would be circulated by noon May 15. The committee also accepted staff's explanation for withdrawing a $3.5 million State Revolving Fund sewer application, with member Liz Clayman pressing for clearer criteria on when Phase 2C work would actually be needed.