WESTHAMPTON — At the annual Town Meeting this Saturday, voters will be asked to approve a $7.6 million operating budget, give the town permission to acquire and preserve 235 acres, borrow $230,000 for a solar array on the public safety complex and more.

Residents will also notice that this year’s meeting is split in two: a typical annual Town Meeting and a special Town Meeting.

According to Town Coordinator Douglas Finn, the special Town Meeting section of Saturday’s voting is required to make funds immediately available for certain urgent expenditures, such as unpaid bills from previous fiscal years, employee benefits and the purchase of a road grader which is expected to ultimately save the town money in the coming fiscal year.

When something is considered at a special Town Meeting, Finn said “the money is made available to do that thing as soon as the minutes for that meeting are certified by the town clerk.” Money approved at a regular Town Meeting is not made available until July 1, or the beginning of the next fiscal year.

One of the biggest items for consideration on this year’s regular meeting warrant is the $1 million acquisition of two parcels of land totaling roughly 235 acres. The money will ultimately be covered by a grant that Kestrel Land Trust, the town’s partner in this endeavor, is applying for. Finn said that the two parcels on Tob Hill Road will be conserved by the town, but will still be open for “passive recreation.”

“By the town owning them, we would know that they would be permanently preserved,” Finn said.

This appropriated money will not be spent unless the town is approved for the Landscape Partnership Grant which will reimburse these costs.

Solar arrays

Town Meeting voters will also be asked to approve $230,000 in borrowing for a new solar array on the town’s public safety complex. The array is expected to provide energy for both the public safety complex and the highway department building, and the town anticipates breaking even or even gaining money on energy costs with the addition of this array.

Finn said the town is also preparing to “switch on” the solar array that was recently installed at the Town Hall and Town Hall Annex, which will offset electricity costs for those buildings. In addition, town officials hope to add an array and storage system at Westhampton Elementary School, which, in combination with these other arrays, will result in net-zero energy use off of the energy grid in town buildings.

The elementary school array is expected to be covered by a grant, and will not be included in the Town Meeting warrant.

Fiscal 2026 budget, other warrant items

Finn noted that a major contributing cost to the increases from the $7 million fiscal 2025 budget brought to voters last year is the rising price of municipal health insurance.

Rising health insurance costs have been prevalent in communities throughout the state, and in Westhampton, this has meant a roughly 25% increase from last year. Finn said that the nearly $620,000 required to cover health insurance costs in the next fiscal year will make up about 8% of the town’s entire budget.

“That’s becoming more and more unfeasible,” he said. “That’s becoming more and more of a burden.”

The 39-article warrant will also ask voters to approve funds for Town Hall security upgrades, purchase a new police vehicle, change a bylaw addressing “junk vehicles” and approve the painting of a portion of the library which has been showing signs of wear.

The Town Meeting will take place at 9 a.m. on Saturday at Town Hall. For more information about the warrant articles, visit the town website at westhamptonma.gov.

Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.