Select Board recap: July 22, 2026
(10-minute read)
For residents looking to stay up to date on key town matters, this recap highlights major takeaways from the Select Board meeting held on Wednesday, July 22, 2026.
Watch the full meeting here on RCTV’s Youtube page.
Review the full Select Board packet.
Key takeaways
Town Manager Jayne Wellman presented three scenarios built around a structural deficit of $6.475M in FY27, ranging from no override, which would eliminate up to 67 municipal and school positions, to an $11M override that would close the deficit outright.
The Finance Committee voted 8-0 to recommend two override tiers appear on the ballot, but three of five Select Board members said they favor a single question, most of them at the lowest figure on the table.
The board met the night before the School Committee’s own override discussion, and after School Committee members and the new superintendent asked for time, the board postponed its vote to Tuesday, July 28.
What the town put on the table
Town Manager Jayne Wellman opened by thanking the board for adding the meeting so town staff could work with the Finance Committee ahead of the August 5 deadline to file ballot language with the state. She walked through the memo in the packet, which puts the FY27 structural deficit at $6.745M and notes that Free Cash regeneration has fallen short of annual Free Cash usage for three consecutive years. Without the override, up to 67 positions across municipal and school sides would be cut from the FY28 budget.
No override
The town would eliminate roughly 67 positions and still draw $3M in Free Cash. The list of reductions includes eliminating the Administrative Services Director, cutting Elder & Human Services programming to $13,000 and meals to $15,000, dropping the therapeutic recreation instructor at the Reading Center for Active Living (ReCAL), moving to biweekly recycling, eliminating the assistant town engineer, removing trash bins from fields, delaying planned FIre Department purchases, reducing rodent mitigation to $30,000, cutting Reading Public Library Sunday hours in a move that could jeopardize accredidation, cutting $200,000 in police overtime and $30,000 in school crossing guards, and ending IT support for night meetings.
$6.5M override
This tier partially restores services, cutting three to five positions on the town side and using $3M to $3.3M in Free Cash. It keeps the Administrative Services Director, raises Elder & Human Services funding to $43,000 and meals to $25,000, hires a part-time therapeutic recreation instructor at $33,250, keeps the assistant town engineer, retains field trash bins, preserves the Fire Department purchases, holds rodent mitigation at $50,000, restores police overtime and crossing guards, keeping library Sunday hours at a cost of $47,650, and maintains IT support for night meetings. Recycling still drops to biweekly under this scenario.
$11M override
The largest option eliminates the structural deficit with no cuts to services, expenses, or personnel and no Free Cash use in the first year, preserving the town’s AAA bond rating. It raises Elder & Human Services funding to $63,000 and meals to $45,000, funds a full-time therapeutic recreation instructor at $66,700, restores weekly recycling, adds two laborers, and hires four firefighters and three police officers to bring down overtime. Wellman noted that, stripped of those additional items, the figure that still achieves no cuts and no first-year Free Cash use is $9.8M.
Wellman said the urgency comes from a structural deficit that will grow past $8M in FY28, calling the current reliance on Free Cash unsustainable. The last override, in 2018, was expected to last three to five years and stretched further thanks to conservative budgeting, ARPA, and pandemic-era funds. Free Cash has fallen from $19M a few years ago to $17M, and then $8M used last year. A hiring freeze was instituted the week before the meeting. Wellman also announced a public webinar on the override set for August 6 at 7 pm with Chief Financial Officer Sharon Angstrom and town staff.
A phased option
Wellman presented a multi-year approach that would soften the tax impact by staging when the town borrows against an approved override. Under a $6.5M override phased over two years, the town would borrow $5M in year one for an average tax impact of $566.52, then $1.5M in year two for an additional $169.95, totaling $736.47. The levy would increase by the full amount immediately upon passage, with the town drawing against excess levy capacity as it phases in the charges.
Finance Committee Chair Marianne McLaughlin-Downing noted that Andover recently used a phased approach and that the Select Board retains control through setting the tax rate. Wellman confirmed the mechanics fall to the CFO, with the Select Board’s authority coming through the tax rate.
Where the board divides
The clearest split on the Select Board is between members anchored to the lowest number and those who think it only postponed the problem.
Chair Melissa Murphy made the case for a single question at $6.5M, arguing the responsible approach is to put forward the minimum and be transparent about why it is needed. She pointed to the two building projects residents have already taken on with Killam and ReCAL, and said she has heard from residents who cannot absorb more, adding that the town still needs to find savings and that everyone should share the pain. She said two numbers would confuse voters and risk pitting departments against one another.
Karen Herrick said she takes the Finance Committee’s recommendation seriously and is open to two ballot options, though her own preference is the $6.5M with the phased implementation. She argued the lower figure has a better chance of passing and pressed for a Free Cash stabilization policy, noting the town spends when Free Cash runs high and is now drawing the balance down far enough to put the AAA rating at risk. Later in the meeting, she said she would like to see options below $6.5M before voting.
Vice Chair Karen Rose-Gillis pushed hardest against the low end, saying a $6.5M override would carry staff a year or two, but not solve anything, and that the board risks returning to the same conversation in two years. When others pointed to trimming excess, Rose-Gillis countered that the cuts on the table are people, not fat. Rose-Gillis favored a three-tier, three-year option to phase the increase in alongside the Killam and ReCAL borrowing schedules, and later floated raising the figure to $7M to preserve weekly recycling. Murphy responded that everyone needs to give and take and that she would struggle with biweekly recycling herself, but returned to her concern about confusion.
Sal Bramante said he favors a single $6.5M question, arguing two options risk confusing voters and that the town should pursue new revenue streams, noting that even if the figure does not fund everything, people will find a way to make things work.
Chris Haley framed his position around not wanting to choose between constituencies, saying he does not feel he has a choice and does not want to pit seniors against schools. He acknowledged something that has to be done given the limits of Proposition 2 1/2, but said that the schools, which account for 60-70% of the budget, need to do more, and that he has not seen it. He questioned how the School Department arrived at a 5.25% increase when the town side cut to reach 3.75%. Haley said he would prefer a single option.
School Committee member Tom Wise later pushed back on the characterization of the school increase, pointing to the FY27 budget as the explanation for where the money is going. He said the district had absorbed a level-funded cut to pass that budget, and that the increase now reflects the repercussion of getting back to level, including restoring full-day kindergarten, with the rest largely standard salaries. Between 85-90% of the school budget is staff-related, Wise said, adding that he would walk through the details at the following night’s School Committee meeting.
Wellman noted the town has been level funded since the last override while salaries and overtime have increased, and that even under a $6.5M override, there would be continued reductions in FY28.
The night before the schools weigh in
The board took up the question a day before the School Committee’s own scheduled discussion of what an override failure would mean for the school district, and several school officials used the public comment period to ask the board to wait.
Wise, speaking as a resident, asked the Select Board to be strategic, noting that if a single number goes forward and fails, the April figure would have to be lower. He asked the board to delay its vote so the schools could deliberate. Wise pointed to potential revenue sources the schools want to discuss, including activity and athletic fees, advertising that would require a bylaw change, and expanding in-district special education programming.
Superintendent Dr. Henry Turner said his presentation the following night focuses in depth on what the district stands to lose without an override, noting that even a $1M reduction would still result in cuts, that fee increases could generate revenue, and that some FY28 impacts would not persist into FY29. School Committee Chair Shawn Brandt said he had understood the vote would happen closer to August 4 and told the board that landing on a number below the recommended level would leave residents frustrated at passing an override and still losing significant services. He suggested that if $5M is the floor under consideration, $6.5M should be the upper tier.
Finance Committee member Ed Ross urged the Select Board to think beyond November to April, supported a multi-option ballot to give voters a choice, and said that while he understands the hesitancy, the board was elected to make these decisions.
Wellman confirmed the state deadline requires an emailed copy of the questions and a certified hard copy by August 5, and that the Town Clerk will be on vacation beginning July 30. Wellman said the board could act that night or meet on July 28 and still make the deadline.
Rose-Gillis said the board should wait out of respect for Dr. Turner and the School Committee. Herrick, Bramante, and Haley all agreed to wait. Murphy said she could go either way and did not expect her position to change, questioning what new information the additional week would produce beyond the consequences of failure. The board settled on reconvening July 28, with the School Committee and Finance Committee posted as well.
What comes next
The board is scheduled to take the override question up again on Tuesday, July 28, with ballot language due to the state by August 5. A public webinar on the override is set for August 6 at 7 pm with Wellman and Angstrom.
On the structure of the question, the board’s informal count going into that meeting stands at Bramante, Haley, and Murphy favoring a single number, Herrick open to two, and Rose-Gillis pressing for a tiered, multi-year approach.
Public engagement came up repeatedly during the discussion, with several members pointing to the limited window residents have had to weigh in. With the decision now set for July 28, residents who want a say in how the question is structured, whether it appears as one number or several, and what level of service the town should aim to preserve can contact the Select Board by emailing SelectBoard@ReadingMA.gov or speak during public comment at the upcoming meeting.
Watch the July 22, 2026 Select Board meeting on the RCTV Youtube page. Seated (left to right): town staff Jax LaVerde, Board Vice Chair Karen Rose-Gillis, Chris Haley, Sal Bramante, and Town Manager Jayne Wellman. Chair Melissa Murphy and Karen Herrick attended via Zoom.
