Justin Evans
Express correspondent
Halifax is grappling with significant budget constraints for fiscal year 2026, with town officials projecting minimal new growth and substantial increases in education costs.
Town Administrator Cody Haddad presented the fiscal year 2026 budget overview during a recent Finance Committee budget forum, highlighting the challenges facing the town.
“What we saw for fiscal 26 was we have little to no growth in Halifax anticipated for the year,” Haddad says. “We’re confident we’re not going to get $100,000 in new growth for fiscal 26.”
The town is projecting only $75,000 in new growth for the upcoming fiscal year, a dramatic decrease from the more than $300,000 seen five years ago. This decline in growth significantly impacts Halifax’s ability to fund services and capital projects.
Education costs represent the largest increases in the town’s operating budget. Halifax Elementary School’s budget is increasing by 11.63%, amounting to $793,675, while Silver Lake’s assessment is rising by 5.6%, or $455,530.
To balance the budget amid these challenges, town officials plan to use $745,000 in free cash to subsidize the operating budget, despite recommendations against this practice from the financial team.
“That was not recommended by myself and our financial team,” Haddad explained. “The town relies on the free cash to fund capital items, and without that, we would not be funding all of our capital items. It also creates a fiscal cliff in fiscal 27.”
The total recommended budget for fiscal year 2026 stands at $31,380,584. Town departments, including public safety, general government, and highway, make up 26.4% of the total operating budget. Insurance and benefits account for 12.6%, while the elementary school represents 24.27% and Silver Lake comprises 27.36%.
In addition to using free cash, the town is implementing various cost-cutting measures. These include removing a new ambulance, a police cruiser, and repairs to the blacksmith shop from the capital plan. Staffing reductions will affect the administration and Selectman’s office, building maintenance, and the library.
Halifax Elementary School has also had to make several reductions from its initially requested budget.
The town’s revenue picture shows the tax levy accounting for 65% of total revenues at $20,401,342. Local receipts, including motor vehicle excise tax, marijuana income, and meals tax, are estimated at $2.731 million, representing 8.7% of revenues. State aid is projected at $4.861 million, or 15.5% of revenues.
Haddad notes that state aid, particularly around education, is not being provided at appropriate levels. “We’re not being reimbursed or given the aid at levels that we should be,” he says.
Fixed costs are also putting pressure on the budget. Plymouth County retirement is increasing by nearly 8%, amounting to $150,000, while group insurance for health coverage is rising by 8%, adding almost $100,000 to expenses.
Public safety departments are maintaining essentially flat budgets from fiscal year 2025 to 2026, with some line-item adjustments. The police department is seeing savings due to senior officers retiring and being replaced by new officers at lower rates.
The town is also facing new expenses, including required PFAS testing for the town-owned landfill. This testing will cost approximately $10,000 annually for the foreseeable future.
“We were notified by DEP in late 2024 that we were going to have to start conducting this PFAS testing,” Haddad explains. “We had not previously been required to do that.”
Another notable increase is in the Veterans Agent salary, which is rising by $11,500 to meet state requirements. The state recently mandated that veterans’ agents must work at least 20 hours per week to maintain accreditation for processing veterans’ claims.
The legal account is increasing by $30,000 due to anticipated litigation regarding MBTA zoning compliance issues and upcoming negotiations with five of the town’s seven unions.
Haddad emphasized that unlike households, municipalities have limited flexibility in reducing costs. “Unlike at home, where if you want your heating bill to be a little bit lower because you need to penny pinch a little bit this month, you can turn down your thermostat and throw on a sweatshirt… We don’t have that flexibility within a municipality.”
The town plans to hold another budget forum on May 5, a week before town meeting, to provide residents with additional information and answer questions about the fiscal year 2026 budget.

The Silver Lake Regional School Committee met on Thursday, April 10. Superintendent Jill Proulx introduced the results from various surveys taken. This past winter, students took the SAEBER (Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk) screener. The level of risk was assessed for each school for Grades K-6. Only three percent of students across Kingston, Plympton, and Halifax were deemed high risk. Plympton had the lowest percentage of students in the “some risk” category at just 9 percent while Kingston and Halifax ranged between 13 and 18 percent. The vast majority of students in Grades K-6 across the three towns fell into the low risk category.
A separate survey was given for students in Grades 7-12, faculty and staff, and families as part of the DESE Tiered Focus Monitoring program. Some key takeaways included that 92 percent of students felt welcome to participate in student activities and that students would like to see new activities/sports offered including dance team, golf, and ping pong.
A presentation was given on student performance through the middle of the year. For English/Language Arts (ELA) students meeting or exceeding grade level expectations in Kingston is 42 percent, in Halifax it is 55 percent, and at the Dennett it is 53 percent. The district-wide goal is to reach 70 percent. For math, 48 percent of Kingston, 55 percent of Halifax, and 56 percent of Dennett students are meeting or exceeding expectations. For science, 52 percent of Kingston students, 60 percent of Halifax students, and 63 percent of Dennett students were meeting or exceeding expectations.
Results from both MCAS and STAR testing for Grades 7 and 8 were also provided. Comparing last year’s MCAS scores to this year’s STAR, the number of students meeting or exceeding expectations for seventh grade is 22 percent higher than last year. It is 18 percent higher for eighth grade. They also reviewed performance for Grades 9 and 10. For reading, 64 percent of ninth graders are meeting or exceeding expectations while 50 percent are for tenth grade. It was stated, however, that the AP Seminar students were not included in the tenth-grade scores.
Chair Gordon Laws said, “Tonight’s presentation represents a lot of progress in my view on a number of levels. Not just from a standpoint of generally good improvements, but from a process standpoint as well. Several years ago, when I started on the School Committee, we couldn’t have a discussion on looking at grade level assessments or pre-assessments other than MCAS and we couldn’t relate whether those pre-assessments were predictive or correlated or related in any way to how MCAS looks. The fact that we are able to do this now… and have data-driven discussion, is really, really good progress.”
While Committee member Jason Fraser was unable to attend in person, he did pass along a Legislative Agent’s update. In it, he said that the House Ways and Means budget was set to be released the following week. Fraser said that significant increases to education appear unlikely but noted that the MASC (Massachusetts Association of School Committees) was still advocating for key measures. Amongst those is a $200 per pupil funding increment. They are also advocating for raising the state reimbursement rate for extraordinary special education costs to 90 percent.
Director of Finance and Operations Sarah Hickey told the Committee, “The Governor’s budget comes out in January – there’s initial amounts for Chapter 70 funding and then that goes to the House. The initial regional transportation reimbursement from the State from the Governor was $795,726; the House voted to fund regional transportation at 100 percent which would give Silver Lake $1,151,117 if that passes the Senate and then the Conference Committee for the final budget.” She noted that there is a potential for Silver Lake to receive $355k from the state and asked the Committee to consider additional staffing for the business office should that happen. Laws said that while it was worthy for debate, it was not on the agenda for further discussion and asked that they table it for a future meeting.
Regarding the School Resource Officer (SRO) at the Middle School, Proulx said, “We had received a request from the Chief for the School Committee to consider funding the SRO at 0.8 FTE for the upcoming school year out of our budget.” She said that the Town Administrator asked if the schools could pick up the cost for full-time benefits as it was not included in their budget. This would be on top of the $80k already allocated for the SRO. Proulx said it would be an increase of nearly $19,000.
The Committee was also told that the position likely wouldn’t be filled until December/January. Hickey said that she had asked their attorney to put together an inter-municipal agreement so they could have something in writing. She noted that what was agreed upon previously was that Silver Lake Regional would pay $80k at an expense of $10k per month. “So then it was explained that the patrolman would have to be hired and would have to go through the Academy and wouldn’t be able to start at the schools until later in the year.” She said that this would mean that the portion of the $80k that wouldn’t be spent on salary, would be used, instead, to pay the benefits.
Committee member Jeanne Coleman called it a bait and switch. Laws said, “I felt like we took a lot of heat from the towns and particularly that town about the state of our budget deliberations… and took a lot of grief over being able to project what our costs are and now that we locked them, we are being asked to readjust them and it doesn’t feel great.” Coleman said that part of the agreement was the understanding that they would not be paying for the benefits. She did acknowledge that the Police Department had asked for an override for their budget that the Selectmen did not vote to support, leaving them to have to find ways to trim their budget. Later in the meeting, Hickey clarified saying that she heard from the Kingston Town Manager and “the cost that he is looking for Silver Lake to pay for salary and benefits is $66,667… which fits within the $80k.”
Principal Michaela Gill provided an update. She said that she was “super excited” to announce that the school had received a $47,000 grant to help create more biomedical pathways. Gill also announced that student Olivia Silveira won a Best in Show award and her artwork will be displayed in Congress in Washington D.C. Gill said there were many staff members, herself included, already wanting to buy her artwork.
Gill also told the Committee that they had a proposal from the Athletic Director to establish a summer strength and conditioning program for student athletes that would be supervised by the trainer. Gill said it would run for six weeks, three days a week. The Committee voted in favor of the proposal.
The Committee also voted on whether to continue with last year’s withdrawal from school choice. The Committee cited both financial and space concerns in their vote to once again withdraw.