Halifax Board of Select-men met jointly with the Finance Committee on Tuesday, Oct. 22, to discuss the beginning of what is anticipated to be a difficult budget season.
Town Administrator Cody Haddad addressed everyone saying, “If you’ve spoken with me regarding the financial picture of the town since I’ve been here, you know that I’ve been saying fiscal 2026 is going to be the start of a challenging couple of years for the town. When you look at new growth projects that we have coming down the line, it’s limited.” He continued, “To give you somewhat of an idea, new growth three or four years ago was around the $300,000 range; this year, for fiscal ’26 we’re anticipating about $80,000 in new growth, so that’s a huge reduction.” Had- dad said that a joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee, and School Committees will take place on Thursday, Dec. 12.
Haddad said that they are asking the departments to pro-vide them with a level services budget. This includes salary increases, etc. that have to be included in order to maintain level services. The town is also asking departments to provide a version of the bud- get with a ten percent cut that reflects a reduction with the least impact.
Haddad said that one of the reasons for the deficit this year is that Silver Lake used one-time funds last year in the amount of $750,000 from excess and deficiency. The schools represent roughly 55 percent of the town’s total budget. “They did that because… with the amended regional agreement, they are going to get what’s called Circuit Breaker funds which is a reimbursement from special education from the three school districts… what that means is they’ll be okay, but that revenue is coming from the towns so we’re going to lose that revenue which is going to create somewhat of a fiscal cliff for the towns,” Haddad said. He continued saying, “on top of that, Halifax Elementary School, last year, also used ap-proximately $50,000 of school use/building utilization funds, so basically you rent out the gym and pay a fee; there was $50,000 built up… so between those two areas, you’re needing to make up those one-time fund increases this year on top of whatever increase they bring forward.” Following the conversation on the bud-get, the Finance Committee adjourned and the Selectmen continued with their meeting.
Jeremy Gillespie appeared before the Board to request changing the Alewife Restoration Committee name to the River Herring Restoration Committee. Alewife are a type of fish known as river herring. Haddad said that in partnership with the Department of Marine Fisheries, Halifax was awarded a $25,000 grant from the Taunton River Watershed Alliance. Haddad said the end goal is to restore efforts of migratory fish.
The Selectmen held a joint meeting with the Zoning By-law Review Committee to dis-cuss the timeline for proposed amendments and feedback from the MBTA zoning public forum. Haddad said they had discussed just bringing the MBTA zoning bylaw changes to Special Town Meeting while Selectmen Chair John Bruno, who was joining the meeting virtually, said that they were discussing putting specific zoning changes on the Town Meeting warrant while other zoning changes would be on the annual Town Meeting warrant. “Most of the stuff in the zoning bylaw change is, I don’t think, controversial… and I wouldn’t add a controversial issue like the MBTA issue override the careful con-sideration of the zoning bylaw changes,” Bruno said distinguishing between the two.
They also discussed the MBTA zoning in greater depth. The MBTA Communities Act asks communities to designate a zoning ordinance or bylaw which would allow for multi-family housing. Communities that do not come into compliance stand to lose grant funding. Bruno said, “I’m recommending that we take out the provisions that put in affordable housing and 40B requirements for any new building and also the mixed commercial use part of it.”
A member of the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee spoke saying, “I don’t necessarily believe that the option for mixed-use should be taken out as we just talked in the budget piece that we had no new growth here or very little.” Haddad clarified that the affordable housing com-ponent of the MBTA Communities Act is actually not 40B. “The affordability requirement is just an affordability requirement… it’s another form of affordable housing, but it’s not 40b,” he explained. He continued, “If you left the afford-ability requirement in this and someone built that, it would not be a 40b, it would just be one unit out of every 10 would have to be affordable.” Select-man Jonathan Selig said that he does think he agrees with leaving the mixed-use component. The Selectmen voted to remove the ten percent afford-able housing component of the MBTA 3A zoning changes.
The Board of Selectmen approved two Eagle Scout projects. Aiden Merry plans to create a new Police Station sign that will stand up to the elements. Additionally, a new flower bed will be created. Shane Devaney plans to replace the three wooden benches near the HOPS play-ground. Both Scouts plan to fundraise for the cost of materials. “These three benches might be the most prime spot in town. They really are beautiful, they’re under the trees – you have a beautiful view right down the soccer field, you have families sitting there; I’ve seen countless people sit-ting there having lunches and I think at least one of them is pretty rough,” Selig said.
The Selectmen accepted a $10,000 donation from Mac-Donald Industries for Holidays in Halifax on the second Saturday in December. The donation will be used to put on the fireworks display.
Haddad told the Select-men that they have received a $50,000 grant from the Department of Energy and Resources to fund feasibility and engineering design for the electrification of Halifax Elementary School. He said that this grant would allow for even more grant funding to complete the various projects, when the time comes.

The Halifax Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, Oct. 8. They had a discussion regarding budget season. Town Administrator Cody Haddad said that he would be looking for a level services budget from each of the departments. Additionally, he said he would be asking for a version in which they cut 10 percent should it end up being needed. He said that based on projections, he doesn’t see the town being able to provide a balanced budget at Town Meeting without an override or significant cuts. “The schools used one-time funds last year to supplement their budget which helped them get through last year, but that creates a fiscal cliff this year on top of whatever increase they’re going to see,” Haddad said. He added that he wouldn’t see the schools’ budgets until January.
Selectman John Bruno said that he doesn’t see an operational override passing nor does he believe he would support one. Haddad said that in the history of Halifax there have been three operational overrides that passed including 1992 to fund the elementary school budget, 2003 to fund Silver Lake, and in 2006 to pay for four firefighters. He did note that operational overrides had failed to pass during many other years.
Haddad told the Selectmen that they received a $221,000 Green Communities Grant which will take care of some heating and A/C concerns at Town Hall, HVAC concerns at the police station, and weatherization of several buildings. He said that a lot of the work would have been capital items had they not received the grant. Haddad also said that they are working to submit a grant to investigate potential regionalization of the elementary schools.
The Selectmen met with new Conservation Agent Katelyn Putt. The position is being shared with the town of Bridgewater. Putt said that while she was new to conservation she has a background in environmental consulting. She will be working in Halifax on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The Selectmen discussed adding their support for the Community Preservation Act (CPA). The CPA is meant to assist towns in preserving open space and historical sites, create affordable housing, and develop outdoor recreational spaces. Chairman of the Ballot Committee to support the Community Preservation Act Candace Kniffen had appeared before the Selectmen during a previous meeting asking for their support and advocating for the potential funding sources for many types of community projects.
Selectmen Thomas Pratt said, “I will be a no vote on this, not because I don’t agree with the merit of the operation, but because I believe I’m being charged with representing the town and the average taxpayer.” He expressed concern over the average household being able to afford an increase in taxes. Selectman Jonathan Selig said he was abstaining due to his involvement with the Committee. He did, however, say that there were income exemptions so that people that couldn’t afford it, wouldn’t be required to pay for it. He said that preserving open space was his biggest priority. Bruno said that he felt that it was a good thing to do and said that people should vote for or against it based on their own ability to pay. The payments will equal two payments of $44 per family annually. The Selectmen elected not to take a vote to support it or not since they were split in their opinions.
Haddad told the Selectmen that they have procured a project manager for the new Council on Aging project at a maximum cost of $220,000. Colliers Engineering & Design will be the project manager. They presented before the Municipal School Building Committee who will be overseeing the project. The Selectmen reviewed the draft contract with Collier. Haddad laid out the timeline saying that the actual construction would begin in early 2026 with the goal of being in the new Council on Aging by late 2026 or early 2027. The Selectmen approved the contract.
The Selectmen discussed the MBTA Action Plan public forum that was taking place later that week. They mentioned that it would be attended by Senators Michael Brady and Kathy LaNatra. They also made it clear that the public forum was meant to be informational and not an endorsement of any kind. “The goal of the meeting is to provide information and not to debate whether we should adopt it or not,” Haddad said. Bruno added, “there’s a disconnect between what will be on the warrant and what people are mad about… what is not going to be on the warrant and will never be on the warrant is ‘do we approve of 3A’… what will be on the warrant is a zoning change… driven by the requirements of 3A but we can make the zoning change even without 3A if we wanted to.”
Before adjourning, a resident in attendance said that he was upset that the town boards and committees met, finished their agenda, and never gave the public in attendance a chance to speak.
Bruno said that he doesn’t agree with a public session portion of a meeting as it opens the meeting to anyone being able to come in and speak to anything.
He further said that there have been court rulings regarding open session as it can result in slander, etc. Bruno did note that the public is welcome to come and speak to items listed in the meeting agenda.