🗳️ It’s Election Day in Sturbridge
Voters are heading to the polls today — and later this month, they’ll also decide 32 warrant articles at Annual Town Meeting. This guide breaks down what’s on that warrant, what it costs, and which votes are most worth watching.

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Annual Town Meeting is the moment when residents have direct voting authority over the town’s finances. The Select Board and Finance Committee make recommendations, but residents cast the actual votes. This year there are 32 articles on the warrant.

Most articles pass with a simple majority. A few require a two-thirds vote, which makes them harder to pass even if more people support them than oppose them. That’s especially important for the borrowing articles.

Important note: There’s also a Special Town Meeting Warrant scheduled for April 27. This post covers the Annual Town Meeting Warrant (Articles 1–32). We’ll publish a separate plain-English guide to the Special Town Meeting Warrant (Articles 55–63) next Monday.

📅 Monday, April 27, 2026 at 7:00 PM
📍 Tantasqua Regional High School, Sturbridge
🧾 32 articles on the warrant — including the budget, capital plan, water/sewer items, and several 2/3 vote articles
🔗 Add Annual Town Meeting to Google Calendar

Before we go article by article, here are the six that deserve the most attention:

Community Preservation Act funds are separate from the general tax levy. Sturbridge collects a surcharge on property tax bills, matched by state funds, for specific uses like open space, historic preservation, community housing, and recreation. These funds cannot just be used for anything.

Six articles this year draw from CPA funds. Most passed cleanly across all boards. One is clearly the biggest discretionary vote on the warrant.

$30,000 for administrative expenses, plus $106,042 set aside for open space, historic resources, and community housing.
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

Routine annual housekeeping. State law requires the CPC to reserve 10% of estimated annual CPA revenue for each of those three major categories.

$366,520 total

This pays debt service on previously approved CPA-funded projects.

$9,500 from the CPA Historic Fund Balance
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0 | CPC: 7-0-0

A small historic preservation article for work at North Cemetery and/or the Old Burial Ground.

$19,500 from CPA Undesignated Fund Balance
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0 | CPC: 7-0-0

Funds trail work and related permitting on multiple trail projects.

$2,245,000 total

This is the article to watch.

Here’s the background: in June 2023, voters approved $220,000 for engineering and design of a bridge connecting the Commercial Tourist District to the Riverlands trail area near the municipal parking lot. This article is the construction funding.

A nearly identical article came before Town Meeting in April 2025 and failed. The vote was 164 in favor and 107 opposed — but because the article needed a two-thirds vote, that was not enough to pass.

The article is back this year at the same $2.245 million. The warrant also says the Town has applied for a $500,000 Mass Trails Grant, which would reduce the CPA contribution if awarded. As of the warrant, that grant outcome was still unknown.

$342,700 from CPA Community Housing Fund Balance
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0 | CPC: 6-0-0

This covers the Affordable Housing Trust budget, including the Housing Coordinator salary, legal and administrative costs, educational courses, printing, advertising, the Housing Production Plan update, and the Housing Trust Account.

$46,128,466 total operating budget for FY27
FinCom: 6-1-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

The warrant says the FY27 budget is up 4.1% from FY26. We covered the broader budget in a separate deep dive, so I won’t repeat that whole breakdown here.

We covered the FY27 budget in depth in a prior post. The short version: it's a level-services budget that maintains all current town services with no new full-time positions. After all revenues and expenses are accounted for, the excess levy capacity is $9. The five-year outlook projects growing deficits pointing toward an eventual override conversation.

📖 Read the full FY27 budget breakdown here →

$227,000
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This adds money to the Capital Stabilization Fund, which the town uses for equipment replacement and facilities maintenance. If approved, the approximate fund balance would be $1,894,615.

$100,000
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

OPEB covers post-employment benefits like retiree health-related obligations. The warrant says the town’s actuarial OPEB liability is about $10.3 million. If this passes, the fund would hold about $2,096,460.

$480,000 from Free Cash
FinCom: 6-1-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This adds money to the town’s general rainy-day reserve. One Finance Committee member voted no. The warrant does not explain the reason.

$20,000
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

Routine annual funding for required property revaluations and interim adjustments.

$1,360,927 from Free Cash
FinCom: 4-3-0
Select Board recommendation: remove the Sidewalk Plow Machine and otherwise approve the article, 3-0-1

This is one of the most divided articles in the entire warrant.

The Finance Committee passed the capital plan 4-3, and the Select Board did not recommend it exactly as written. Instead, the Select Board recommendation is to remove the $250,000 sidewalk plow machine and approve the rest. If Town Meeting adopts that amendment, the total would drop from $1,360,927 to $1,110,927.

Here are the biggest items in the proposed capital plan:

This article feels like one of the clearest candidates for real floor discussion.

$100,000
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This road account does not expire at the end of the fiscal year, which gives DPW more flexibility.

$100,000 from Free Cash
FinCom: 6-1-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This funds work required for the Town to comply with the EPA’s Stormwater MS4 Permit. The warrant summary says this is a mandatory program of the Department of Environmental Protection involving every stormwater collection system in Massachusetts, and that it is an annual cost.

In plain English: this is not a “should we do this?” article. It is a “we have to pay for this compliance work” article.

$100,000 from Free Cash
FinCom: 6-1-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

The warrant says there are many dead and/or damaged trees around town that need trimming or removal for public safety.

$140,000 from Free Cash
FinCom: 6-1-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This funds the purchase of a school bus. The warrant says Sturbridge usually budgets for two buses a year in the operating budget, but this year one of them is being handled through Free Cash to help reduce pressure on the operating budget.

These three articles are funded through special revenue, not regular property taxes.

$111,000
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This funds the town’s PEG cable access operations. The warrant says the money comes from a surcharge on cable bills.

$333,404
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 3-0-1

This is funded through the hotel/motel tax special account. The warrant says hotel/motel tax revenue is split:

This budget supports tourism marketing and part of the Economic Development/Tourism Coordinator position.

$331,025
FinCom: 8-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

Also funded through the hotel/motel tax special account. The money is spread across a long list of public safety, beautification, recreation, and community items.

This is one of the biggest clusters of utility and infrastructure spending on the warrant.

A quick note before we start: several of these articles are funded through reserve accounts or user rates, not the general tax levy. That does not mean they are free. It means the cost is expected to show up through water and sewer bills, not regular property taxes.

$1,984,712
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This funds the Water Department through water rates and charges. The warrant summary says the estimated impact is a 7.7% increase, or about $28 more per quarter for the average residential customer.

$4,117,417 funded through sewer rates and charges
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This is the main FY27 sewer operating budget. The warrant says it results in:

This matters because several later sewer articles are separate capital or borrowing items, but Article 20 is the base operating budget that already raises rates on its own.

$43,000 from Sewer Betterments Fund Balance
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This pays debt service on the Woodside/Westwood sewer projects. The warrant says those costs are repaid through betterment assessments on the affected properties.

$75,000 from Water Reserve Fund Balance
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

Replacement truck for the Water Department.

$350,000 from Water Reserve Fund Balance
FinCom: 6-0-1 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This funds planning work for the eventual replacement of the water treatment plant.

$300,000 from Water Reserve Fund Balance
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This funds design and construction for replacing an undersized water line serving homes on Cricket Drive Extension. The warrant says the line has had multiple breaks in recent years.

$200,000 from Sewer Reserve Fund Balance
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This funds the design phase for a wastewater treatment plant screen room upgrade. The warrant says the current screens are unreliable, require frequent repairs, and protect downstream equipment.

⚠️ TWO-THIRDS VOTE REQUIRED

$1,555,000 to be borrowed
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 3-1-0

This is the construction phase of the wastewater treatment plant influent screen room project. The related design article is Article 26; this is the much larger borrowing vote to actually do the work.

The warrant says any debt issued under this article would technically be general obligation debt of the Town, but it is expected to be paid from sewer user rates and charges. The summary gives an estimated sewer rate impact of $1.12 per 100 cubic feet.

Why it matters: this is a major sewer infrastructure borrowing article, it needs a two-thirds vote, and even though it is not funded through the regular property tax levy, the expected cost still lands on sewer users through rates and charges.

$100,000 from Sewer Reserve Fund Balance
FinCom: 6-1-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This funds preliminary design work for replacing the Route 20 Sewer Pump Station, which the warrant says is in extremely poor condition.

⚠️ TWO-THIRDS VOTE REQUIRED

$980,000 to be borrowed
FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 3-1-0

This article funds the final phase of a multi-year rehabilitation project for the Town’s primary treatment units. The warrant says this is the last of the three Primary Treatment Units to be painted and rehabilitated, and also notes that this is the largest of the three units.

The project includes:

Like Article 27, this borrowing would be expected to be paid from sewer user rates and charges. The warrant gives an estimated sewer rate impact of $0.70 per 100 cubic feet.

Why it matters: this is another major sewer borrowing article, it needs a two-thirds vote, and it continues a multi-year rehabilitation effort rather than starting a brand-new program.

FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This is the standard article to accept reports from town boards and officials.

FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This sets FY27 spending caps for 12 revolving funds. In plain English, these are fee-supported accounts that still need Town Meeting to approve how much can be spent in the coming year.

FY27 limits include:

FinCom: 7-0-0 | Select Board: 4-0-0

This article is procedural, but it still matters. It moves several Town Meeting deadlines earlier in the year so boards have more time to review articles and make recommendations before the warrant is finalized.

Key changes:

Annual Town Meeting is Monday, April 27 at 7:00 PM at Tantasqua Regional High School. If you are a registered Sturbridge voter, you can show up and vote.

If you only remember a few things from this post, make it these:

Official Annual Town Meeting Warrant

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The Town Minute is an independent publication not affiliated with the Town of Sturbridge or any municipal office. While we strive for accuracy, errors or omissions may occur. For official and complete records, please refer to the Town’s approved meeting minutes or watch the official meeting recordings on the Town’s website.