ORANGE — After a particularly difficult budget year in 2025, town officials are feeling more optimistic about the $28.7 million total budget that is slated to come before voters at next week’s Annual Town Meeting.
Voters are asked to convene at Town Hall’s Ruth B. Smith Auditorium on Monday, May 11, for a Special Town Meeting at 7 p.m. that will lead directly into Annual Town Meeting.
Residents will be asked if they agree to a $28.7 million total budget for fiscal year 2027, with a $311,585 transfer from free cash. Orange has been in a difficult financial situation for years, and in 2025 adopted a $28.4 million budget only after a contentious three-night Annual Town Meeting. Voters had rejected a Proposition 2½ override that would have generated an extra $1.4 million to fund town services, and the Finance Committee met for roughly four hours to hammer out a balanced budget that used all of the town’s $768,144.97 in free cash to spare all positions threatened by financial cuts.
On Thursday morning, Town Administrator Matthew Fortier said he is feeling less concerned this time around.
“I’m pretty happy about this one,” he said. “No one has to lose sleep over this budget. I think we can get it done in one night.”
The Finance Committee recommends $14.2 million in education. This would constitute $8.6 million for elementary school education, $5 million for Ralph C. Mahar Regional School and $590,820 for Franklin County Technical School.
Article 17 seeks to appropriate $70,000 for the purchase of a police cruiser, and adoption of Article 18 would transfer $58,601 from free cash for the fourth of five payments for the purchase of Tasers, body-worn cameras and cruiser-mounted cameras for the Police Department. Both requests are part of the FY27 capital plan.
Article 19 asks voters if they agree to appropriate up to $90,000 to replace the protective clothing of 15 firefighters, likewise approved by the capital plan. The equipment was reportedly issued as part of a department-wide outfitting in 2016 and is approaching the end of its service life, as defined by national and state regulations.
The purpose of Article 20 is to appropriate $35,000 to buy a tractor for use in the municipal cemetery. This, too, was approved in the capital plan, as is the proposed purchase in Article 21: a skid steer for use by the Sewer Department, which entails allocating $65,000.
Other articles on the 29-article Annual Town Meeting warrant include:
- Authorizing the Selectboard to enter into a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement with Navisun Inc. for its solar photovoltaic facility at 445 West River St.
- A resolution in support of “An Act Relative to the Quabbin Watershed and Regional Equity” (S.546/H.1042), legislation that seeks better compensation for communities for their roles in protecting the Quabbin.
- Transferring $18,895 from free cash to supplement and codify the town code in accordance with the town charter.
Special Town Meeting
The first meeting, with 10 articles on its warrant, is slated to begin at 7 p.m., with Annual Town Meeting starting immediately after its conclusion. Fortier said the Special Town Meeting consists of “a lot of housekeeping articles.”
Article 3 asks voters if they agree to transfer $150,000 from free cash to the snow and ice account to cover a deficit, while Article 7 would transfer $450,000 from Sewer Enterprise Retained Earnings to defray the Sewer Enterprise Fund emergency deficit related to the sinkhole that opened on East Main Street in June 2025.
Fortier explained that a Special Town Meeting is held for more urgent matters, because the public’s votes go into effect immediately, whereas decisions made at Annual Town Meetings do not take effect until July 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year. He said the town tries to pair the meetings together for efficiency’s sake.
The warrants for the Special Town Meeting and Annual Town Meeting can be found at tinyurl.com/OrangeMeetings.
