SOUTHAMPTON — The Annual Town Election returns on May 20 and in 2025, the town will not have any contested races and will have voters decide on two ballot questions.
Town Moderator Robert Kenneth Floyd is running unopposed for reelection to the position. For the Select Board there are two open seats on the ballot and incumbent Christine Fowles is the candidate for a three-year term, while newcomer Ellen Debruyn will run for two term seat, also unopposed. Current Select Board member Cindy Palmer will not be running for reelection.
The Finance Committee has two open seats on the ballot but neither seat has an official candidate listed. The School Committee has three openings but only two candidates on the ballot with incumbent Catherine A Thibodeau and newcomer Lori Wayson.
The Board of Health has one opening on the ballot and incumbent Leah Nero Carrasquillo is the lone candidate listed. The Board of Assessors has two positions available with only one candidate, incumbent Linda Green, listed for the three-year term.
Question 1 on the ballot will see if the town will be allowed to be exempt from the provisions of Proposition 2 1/2, so-called, the amounts required to pay for the bonds to be issued for engineering and architectural services to build a public safety building. This debt exclusion would total $3.2 million.
The town retained the services of land use professionals for public input and to locate and design the future site of the public safety building at “0 College Hwy.” The next step in designing the building, taking it from a conceptual design to construction documents ready, is being proposed at the Tuesday, May 7 Special Town Meeting. This will cost about $3.2 million and needs to be approved through Town Meeting and the voters of Southampton.
Southampton Town Administrator Scott Szczebak explained passing this question would help cover engineering and architectural fees as they continue to work toward the construction of a new public safety building in Southampton.
“The $3.2 [million], we’re in desperate need of a new police and fire department. The physical situations definitely need to be updated. There’s a lot of structural problems with the two facilities, more so with the fire than police, but both are definitely not adequate for the town’s needs.”
Szczebak said this $3.2 million in funding will not be spent until Southampton voters approve the final step for getting the project fully approved for construction. He added if passed, they will be looking to secure the remaining funding later this year for the project.
“That’s for the first part of the engineering and architectural fees,” explained Szczebak. “We’re also planning on looking at additional monies in the fall. We’ll probably have a special town meeting in September and then we’ll try to do a special election in November and that would be for the full amount of the $27 million.”
Question 2 will have voters decide if the town can assess an additional $897,069 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purpose of supplementing the funding for the operating budget for the Norris Elementary School for the new fiscal year beginning in July.
“That’s an override and that money would be for the Norris School budget. With the override, that’s a permanent increase,” Szczebak said. “For the override, this year’s budget was a little bit difficult. We had an 18-plus percent increase in health insurance. The central office budget came in a little over 4% for Hampshire Regional, but the Norris budget was 16-plus percent. That’s a huge budget buster obviously, but the primary drivers were special education, contractual increases and central office costs.”
Szczebak said many districts are facing the same challenges and considering overrides in similar cases as well. He added between eight to 10 positions could be cut from the Norris School if this question does not pass.
The full 2025 Annual Town Election ballot can be viewed on the town’s website.
