The Select Board last week approved 11 warrant articles that will shape how the town manages its finances, public buildings and workforce in the years ahead, advancing proposals that touch on everything from affordable housing and revenue generation to public safety staffing and Town Meeting procedures. While several of the articles are described as routine or technical, together they reflect broader efforts to control long-term costs, repurpose underused town assets and respond to rising pressures on municipal services without relying solely on property tax increases.
Article I: Building Department Revolving Fund
This article would raise the Building Department Revolving Fund’s limit to $265,000 during fiscal year 2027, from a limit of $255,000 voted on at the 2025 Town Meeting.
Article R: Transfer of Funds to Balance Certain Capital, Grant and other Town Accounts
This article would transfer money from the Unassigned Fund Balance to address deficits in “certain capital, grant and other town accounts.” It does not specify how much money is necessary to balance those accounts.
Town Administrator Tom Mayo called it an “accounting cleanup article” and said it is intended to balance accounts that fell into deficits in the early 2000s.
Article V: Sale, Lease or Conveyance of 86 Central Street
This article would empower but not require the Select Board to sell or lease the property at 86 Central St., currently an affordable housing development called the Lincoln Apartments, for community housing under an Affordable Housing Restriction. That restriction would require the Select Board to keep some or all of the apartments accessible to low or moderate income residents.
“It's unanimously understood to be a highly successful senior affordable housing development, valued by the community and key to our meeting both our section 40B affordability requirements and our affordability goals as a town,” Falvey said of the Lincoln Apartments.
Hingham currently owns and manages the Lincoln Apartments, which Falvey said is a unique and possibly less efficient situation than allowing a private company to manage the property.
A disposition of the property would allow a private owner to finance the “significant capital improvements” that the building requires, including a new HVAC system and roof repairs, Falvey said.
Article X: Real Estate Transfer Fee
This article would allow the town to raise a fee for every real estate transfer, provided that the General Court of the Commonwealth approved the act described in the article.The proposed fee is 1%of the purchase price of any real estate in Hingham.
The money raised would first fund the town’s affordable housing goals, then could be used as general government funds after those goals are met.
“We are really trying to discuss ways that we can continue to raise revenue to meet the increasing costs of municipal government that don't involve property tax increases,” Select Board Chair William Ramsey said. “This is a way that we can solve problems going forward.”
Article Y: Sale of 8 Short Street
This article would empower but not require the Select Board to sell the government-owned property at 8 Short St., which was formerly used by the Department of Public Works but is now unoccupied.
Proceeds from the sale would go to capital expenditures, said Mayo.
Ramsey said that the historical significance of the building, which Mayo estimated is around 70 years old, should be preserved with the sale. The sale would be subject to a Preservation Restriction, which limits the changes a new owner could make to the property.
Article Z: Sale of 230 North Street
This article would empower but not require the Select Board to sell the old fire station at 230 North St., which has been vacant since the fire department relocated to Main Street last year. Ramsey said that multiple residents had already expressed their interest in buying the building.
Neither of the articles authorizing sales of unused public buildings prescribes a use for the potential proceeds.
This sale is also subject to a Preservation Restriction.
Article AA: Transfer from the Capital Cost and Debt Service Stabilization Fund
This article would allow the Select Board to take money from the Capital Cost and Debt Service Stabilization Fund to pay debt service on “outstanding excluded debt bond anticipation notes” or other bonds related to two major construction projects: the new Foster Elementary School at 55 Downer Ave. and the new Public Safety Facility at 335 Lincoln St., which houses the police and fire departments.
The town previously designated $7 million to use over the course of four years to mitigate the impacts of debt incurred to pay for those two construction projects. This article would allow the Select Board to allot an appropriate amount of that $7 million fund for use in fiscal year 2027, which the town estimates will be about $2.1 million.
“We're just following through with that plan to reduce the tax impact,” Klein said.
Article CC: Civil Service: Fire and Article DD: Civil Service: Police
These articles would end the police and fire departments’ statuses as civil service agencies, releasing employees from civil service laws, rules and regulations.
As part of collective bargaining agreements with police and fire department employees, the town agreed to pay each employee $7,500 “in order to leave the civil service purview,” said Mayo. He anticipates that those one-time payments to police and fire department employees will cost around $750,000.
“While it's going to cost us a little bit of money here, it will ultimately end up saving us money in the short term,” Mayo said.
The article does not specify the amount of money that should be appropriated for those payments or where that money should come from.
Select Board Member Elizabeth Klein said that police and fire department employees had already agreed to the terms in the article, but that a vote at Town Meeting was legally required to overturn the 1944 Town Meeting vote that included the police and fire departments in civil service.
Article FF: Transfer For Employee Health Care Cost Subsidy
This article would temporarily increase the town’s contribution to employee healthcare from 50% to 60% during fiscal year 2027, representing a cost increase of roughly $1.3 million, Mayo said, though the article does not specify the sum to be appropriated.
The town’s increased contribution would subsidize the growing health insurance premium costs facing town employees, which Mayo said are “outrageously inflationary.”
The article is based on a recommendation from a task force created last year.
“This is not a long-term solution. This is not the end of the discussion,” Klein said. “This is the first step, in my opinion, of this process of trying to help alleviate this healthcare challenge for our employees.”
Article LL: Electronic Voting Devices
This article would empower the Select Board to appropriate or borrow money to purchase electronic voting equipment for Town Meeting votes. The town would first establish a task force to evaluate the possibility of adopting electronic voting, and it would make a recommendation to the Select Board in favor of or against electronic voting after about a year.
“We would not expend a penny until the Select Board determined it was the right thing to do next year after the research is done,” Mayo said.
If approved by Town Meeting, the slate of articles would give town leaders greater flexibility to address aging public infrastructure, stabilize long-standing budget imbalances and pursue new revenue streams, while also reshaping the relationship between the town and its public safety employees. The proposals signal an ongoing shift toward balancing fiscal restraint with investments in housing, employee benefits and modernized governance, choices that will ultimately determine how the town adapts to growing costs and changing community needs.
Full text of the warrant articles below. Article DD was not available as of the time of publication.
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