(8-9 minute read)
For residents looking to stay up to date on key town matters, this recap highlights the major takeaways from the Override Lunch & Learn held on Tuesday, October 20, 2026.
Watch the full meeting here on RCTV’s Youtube page.
Review the DPW presentation slides.
Review the town’s override webpage.
Key Takeaways
Without an override, officials estimate they could cut 53 to 80 positions. The range depends on how much free cash the town and school system use from the 872 total employees. The budget would also lose every community priority not tied to the new buildings, and the DPW would cut services residents see every day.
School officials defended recent staffing additions. Superintendent Dr. Henry Turner said added assistant principals and special education staff improve classroom stability, and that serving students in district has saved the town about $12M. He said the town could cut 30 to 40 positions without an override.
Residents on fixed incomes press officials on the tax impact. Town Manager Jayne Wellman acknowledged the override is a big ask, and explained that the state law limits how the town can notify residents about a ballot question.
Presentation [0:00:05]
Town Manager Jayne Wellman opened by noting that town and school officials have held outreach events in various forms through August, September, and October, with the police chief and DPW staff on hand to answer questions. She reviewed the proposed $6.5M override, which would be supplemented by $3M in free cash and is expected to last three to five years, and described the structural deficit behind it.
What the town has done so far
Wellman said recent cost pressures include a new trash contract that brought a 39% increase after a 10-year agreement with JRM ended, along with higher software license costs and insurance on new buildings. To offset them, the town renegotiated healthcare costs for $3.9M in projected savings over three years, renegotiated its property and casualty insurance, raised building and ambulance fees, cut office supplies by 10%, and reduced the FY27 capital budget from 5% to 4.5%. Pensions will be fully funded by FY32, which is expected to free up about $3M for operating expenses.
The town is also leaving positions unfilled, with 12.5 open now. Wellman said it is not hiring in October only to lay people off in June, since each layoff costs about $30,000 in unemployment.
Reserves and the average tax bill
Chief Financial Officer Sharon Angstrom said the total reserves are an estimated $16,863,967, or 12.1% of the projected FY27 revenue. The Finance Committee’s minimum is 7%, while the AAA bond rating prefers 15% to 20%.
For the average home, valued at $944,000, the FY26 tax bill was $10,348. That bill did not include the increases from the Killam School and Reading Center for Active Living (ReCAL) projects. The first tranche of debt for those projects was included in the FY27 tax bills, which added approximately $568.
If the override fails
Officials said a failed override would mean cutting 53 to 90 positions out of 249 town employees and 623 school employees. The budget would cut all community priorities not tied to the new buildings, including $917,000 for a community priority, $200,000 for police overtime, and $989,000 in capital spending. Wellman said the town would cut 8-9 public safety positions, including fire, police, the Reading Coalition for Prevention and Support, and dispatchers, plus another 10 to 11 elsewhere in town.
Schools
Asked how the recently added assistant principals improve the quality of education, Superintendent Dr. Henry Turner said the roles respond to changes in schools. Student behavior has changed, with children getting phones at a younger age. He said the added staff, including five elementary assistant principals and school adjustment counselors, help keep students in classrooms, reduce disruptions, and support social-emotional learning. He also said chronic absenteeism has come down since the pandemic.
Turner said the district paid for the positions by repurposing money, not by increasing the budget. He called it a valid question to ask why the district would now cut positions it recently added. Scenarios presented at the October 15 School Committee meeting showed that cuts would reach well beyond the assistant principals, with 30 to 40 positions at risk.
Public Works
DPW Director Chris Cole said the department has 60 full-time employees and three seasonal positions. Its Highway Division maintains 200 lane miles of road, 40 miles of sidewalk, and parking lots for schools and town buildings. Other divisions cover forestry, more than 80 acres of parks and cemeteries, more than 200 town-owned vehicles, engineering, water and sewer, and stormwater. Reserves, not the operating budget, fund the water, sewer, and stormwater divisions.
With an override, attrition would still eliminate three positions, including two seasonal laborers. Without one, Cole said the department would cut budgets for traffic signal repairs, shade tree planting, and paving; eliminate funding for capital improvements to fields, playgrounds, and athletic courts; stop funding repairs to town-owned fences; and remove trash barrels from all parks and athletic fields. Fewer people would also take longer to plow roads and sidewalks. Wellman noted that DPW staff has held steady at 60 for the last 10 years.
Community questions [0:30:52]
Fuel costs
A resident asked whether the town’s contract includes fuel escalation and what the base price is. Cole said the town pays monthly for fuel escalation from a base price of just over $3 a gallon and currently pays about $4,000 a month in escalation.
Special education and school staffing
A resident asked about the special education program, behavioral issues, and the role of assistant principals. Turner said special education needs are growing, and that a Massachusetts town must pay for a student’s education if the student is placed out of district. Reading has worked to bring students back in and now enrolls students from other communities, whose towns pay Reading. He said this has saved the town about $12M, though it stresses teachers and requires more professional development and possibly more staff, at a cost that could still be lower than an out-of-district placement.
Turner said the district has fewer students but more staff, mostly in special education, and that expectations for students’ learning are higher than they were years ago. He described a kindergarten class he recently observed where 22 students took and recorded data on warm and cool objects in sun and shade, and said students are expected to begin reading and writing by the end of kindergarten.
Full-day kindergarten
Full-day tuition kindergarten has been tuition-free for a few years. Turner said bringing tuition back is one consideration, but the district would need to offer a half-day option, and the full curriculum cannot be taught in half a day.
Notifying the public
A resident asked how the town notifies the public about overrides, saying the Pleasantries Newsletter they received the day before was the first they heard. Wellman said state law prevents the town from notifying all residents about an override on the ballot, so it can only provide factual information and cannot tell people how to vote. She said she was shocked to learn she could not send a letter to everyone. The town has held weekly forums since August, discussed the override at Town Meetings and public meetings for more than two years, and shared information through the website, the newspaper, and the library. She noted that the last override, for FY18, was expected to last three to five years, and that careful budgeting and federal COVID-related ARPA and ESSER funds allowed the town to go longer.
Impact on fixed incomes
A resident said less revenue means fewer services, but increases from a 2.5% levy plus Killam and ReCAL could raise residents' taxes by 10% to 12%, while Social Security recipients received a 3.6% increase. The resident asked what the right level of funding is, said Killam and ReCAL are tangible while other costs are less so, and said the group cares more about financial impact than the social impact.
Wellman said officials have focused on impacts and that hearing residents want different information is helpful. She acknowledged that the impact on tax bills from debt exclusions with the override is significant and that it is a big ask. On the right size of government, she said that without an override, fire and police staffing would drop below 2018 levels.
Police Chief David Clark said that if someone calls 911, officers will come, but follow-up services would be cut back, with detectives moved to patrol. He said a shift in priorities would affect fraud, theft, and investigations. Clark added that officers are already running from call to call, that new retail from Trader Joe’s is expected to generate more accidents and thefts, and that traffic has gotten out of control, leaving less room for proactive policing and community outreach.
Turner said Proposition 2 ½ puts the decision on the right level of services in residents’ hands, and he can only share facts, not take a position. He said Reading spends well below the state average and surrounding towns per pupil while getting extraordinary results.
State aid and accountability
Select Board member Chris Haley said the drop in state aid is why the town is in this position, that no one in the room is to blame, and that it is aggravating to see nothing being done about it. He said town staff made cuts, the Select Board brought the budget to 3.75%, and the town does what it can with what it has.
Welman pointed residents to a Massachusetts Municipal Association paper on the town website and said Massachusetts is one of the worst states at returning money to municipalities. She said the town has done an excellent job of not spending more while providing excellent services. “How the community votes is what we will do,” she said, adding that the way the town looks will change.
Watch the October 20, 2026 Override Lunch & Learn on the RCTV Youtube page.
