Swampscott Finance Committee Clears Recreation Fund Spending Hike, Hands Budget to Select Board

SWAMPSCOTT — April 16, 2026 — Swampscott Finance Committee releases a nearly $88.6 million FY27 operating budget to the Select Board and votes to expand recreation spending authority. The committee reached informal consensus Thursday to hand off the fiscal year 2027 general fund budget — up $3.1 million from the current year — to the Select Board for review, while flagging outstanding figures on health insurance, property and casualty insurance, the Essex Tech regional assessment, and a pending Hawthorne building lease expected to add roughly $150,000 in annual rental income. Finance Director Patrick Cunningham confirmed $956,000 in total reductions had been made across town and school departments since original submissions, with overtime cuts representing the largest single reduction; no positions were eliminated. The projected tax impact on the average single-family home assessed at $956,516 is an annualized increase of $670. To balance the budget, the town would draw on approximately $1.8 million in unused levy capacity, which has fallen from $9 million to roughly $4 million in recent years — a trajectory Precinct 4 resident Mary Ellen Fletcher called unsustainable, warning a two-year window remains before the town may need an operational override. The committee voted unanimously to raise the Recreation revolving fund's fiscal year 2026 annual spending limit from $500,000 to $650,000, with a permanent bylaw increase to go before Town Meeting.