Hingham Select Board Recommends Seven Town Meeting Articles, Pulls Four Others

HINGHAM -- February 25, 2025, Hingham Select Board recommends seven town meeting articles and pulls four others amid capital funding warnings. Meeting jointly with the Advisory Committee, School Committee, and Capital Outlay Committee, the two-member Select Board, Chair Joe Fischer and Elizabeth Klein, with Bill Ramsey absent, approved favorable recommendations on articles covering election-hour reductions, harbor revenue transfers, legal-notice publication reform, easements, two revolving fund updates, and a $687,000 borrowing authorization for South Shore Country Club equipment. Capital Outlay Committee Chair Michael Donovan warned that the town's $3.5 million tax-levy capital allocation is insufficient without an additional $1.6 million draw from unassigned fund balance to replace deteriorating DPW and transfer-station vehicles, some more than 15 years old and costing a quarter of a new vehicle's price in annual repairs. Town Administrator Tom Mayo presented FY26 municipal budget adjustments closing an $810,022 gap to meet the 3.5 percent MOU spending cap, including shifting Recreation Director Mark Thorburn's salary into the department's revolving fund, a move Recreation Commission Chair Vicki Donlan called "a very sad precedent" for future hiring.