Finance Committee votes to hold free cash split at 50-50 for FY27 budget

BELCHERTOWN -- March 10, 2026, Belchertown Finance Committee recommends holding free cash split at 50-50 for FY27, pausing a planned shift to a more aggressive stabilization target. The committee voted 4-0 Tuesday to recommend the 50-50 operational-to-stabilization split, backing away from the 40-60 ratio that had been the next step in a multi-year effort to reduce Belchertown's dependence on free cash for day-to-day operations, a practice the state's Department of Local Services had flagged as a concern. The committee also voted unanimously to recommend that roughly $300,000 in unspent health insurance funds be returned to the town's stabilization account at a forthcoming special town meeting, a move that would bring the stabilization balance to approximately 4 percent of the town's $61 million budget. An expected $80,000 reduction in the Pathfinder Regional vocational assessment was voted to go back into the operating budget under the standard 70-30 town-school split. Combined, those adjustments would reduce required budget cuts across town and schools to roughly $150,000. The Select Board is scheduled to take up the committee's recommendations at its March 16 meeting, with a tri-board budget presentation set for March 23 ahead of the May 11 annual town meeting.