The town has begun setting a calendar to decide whether to ask voters for a Proposition 2½ operating override, the first such request in 17 years, to close a projected budget shortfall of up to $3 million in fiscal 2028.
The Select Board is expected to choose a ballot path in September, after two joint sessions with the Finance and School committees, according to statements at recent public meetings. If the board proceeds, it is weighing a question on the November 2026 state election ballot or, failing that, a special town meeting in winter 2027.
The Finance Committee, meeting July 13, elected Carl Barnes as its chair and Iris Hoxha as vice chair for fiscal 2027 and front-loaded its fall schedule, setting meetings for July 27, Aug. 10, Aug. 24 and Sept. 9, then weekly on Mondays, explicitly to keep pace with a possible override. New members Satish Raj and Rob Quimby joined the committee.
At that meeting, committee member Brian O’Herlihy reported that Finance Director Brian Keveny and Town Manager Michael McCall have recommended the Select Board consider placing an override question on the November state election ballot, which draws roughly 80% turnout compared with about 10% at a special election. O’Herlihy said any override would likely be split 60-70% to the schools and 30-40% to the town.
The fiscal pressure, O’Herlihy told the newly reorganized committee, is structural: the one-time maneuvers used to balance the fiscal year 2027 budget, deferring long-term debt issuance and shifting highway department debt to excluded debt, are no longer available. The deferred debt, he said, will arrive in fiscal 2028 as a “double dose.”
“If we wait until we get a budget that’s fully baked, it’s much tougher to make changes and to have our views reflected in there,” O’Herlihy said.
Keveny’s multi-year forecast, presented June 15, projected that level-service spending in fiscal 2028 would exceed the town’s levy capacity by at least $2.5 million, driven largely by health insurance costs and rising debt service, with a cumulative shortfall of roughly $8.8 million to $9 million across fiscal 2028 through 2030.
The board has steadily elevated the issue. At its July 7 meeting, members announced that the
The finance and school committees would join the Select Board for a joint override presentation in a second joint session Aug. 31, and that a decision on whether to proceed would follow in September or mid-October, allowing about 90 days of public outreach before a potential town meeting in January or February 2027. Members also revised their fiscal 2027 objectives to make long-range financial planning, including the override discussion, the board’s top priority.
“The credibility of this group and the reputation for diligence and due deliberation of this group is pretty important,” member Christopher Reynolds said on July 7, arguing the board should protect deliberation time as both an override and a possible major school building project enter public debate.
If voters approve an override, it would be Wayland’s first successful operating override since 2009.
At the July 20 meeting, McCall was asked to check with Town Clerk Trudy Reid on preparations for a November ballot that could carry as many as nine questions.
The urgency is compounded by the town’s capital needs. A facilities estimate presented July 7 put a full renovation of the aging town office building at about $22.3 million, and roughly $25 million counting mechanical work already done. The Capital Improvement Planning Committee has told the board it cannot finalize its five-year capital plan without direction on the building’s future. The board was due to vote Aug. 17 on a charge for a Town Building Working Group to weigh renovation against relocation, purchase or new construction.
The two joint sessions and the Finance Committee’s weekly fall meetings are set to feed the board’s September decision on whether, and how, to put an override to voters.
