Sunderland Boards Order Deep Budget Cuts, Weigh Proposition 2½ Override Amid $1.5 Million Gap

Selectboard · Meeting of March 9, 2026

WHATELY -- Sunderland boards direct departments to model 5 and 20 percent cuts as $1.5 million budget gap looms. Meeting jointly on March 9, the Selectboard and Finance Committee confronted a projected fiscal year 2027 shortfall of roughly $1.5 million, driven largely by school and South County Senior Center costs that together account for about 75 percent of the total increase, and instructed Town Administrator Becky to ask all town departments for two revised budgets from their fiscal year 2026 baselines, one cut 5 percent and one cut 20 percent, due by March 16. Members discussed a Proposition 2½ override in the range of 7.5 to 8 percent as potentially passable, though board members acknowledged even a successful override would still require departmental reductions.

The board voted 3-0 to sign a letter of support for a state Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant application, carrying zero local match for rural Sunderland, to fund a floodplain study for the area bounded by Old Amherst Road, Silver Lane, and Route 47. The Insurance Advisory Committee separately presented a recommendation to raise the town's share of employee health insurance premiums 3 percent annually for three years, plus a new $250-per-employee flexible spending account, at an estimated maximum cost of $20,000 per year. A follow-up joint meeting is set for March 24, with override ballot language due March 27.

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Source: the Selectboard meeting of March 9, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.