Acushnet Finance Committee backs Planning Board clerical position, eyes school budget talks

ACUSHNET -- February 19, 2026, Acushnet Finance Committee backs restoring a Planning Board clerical position cut last year and braces for a large Old Colony assessment increase. At the February 19 meeting, Chairperson Michael R. Boucher pledged support for reinstatement of the 19.5-hour part-time clerk vacant since February 2025, after a promised shared-clerk arrangement with the Building Department never materialized. Town Planner Victoria Alfaro, who works in Acushnet just two days per week, said the staffing gap has forced her to decline requests from other departments and is causing the town to miss grant opportunities, including a South Main Street sewer extension grant estimated at roughly $500,000. Council on Aging Director Lauren Golda's budget came in just $2,743 above level-funded, covering modest wage increases for staff still earning the 2023 minimum wage of $15 per hour. Treasurer-Collector Jen Coran noted roughly $370,000 in motor vehicle excise receipts already collected against a $1.6 million annual estimate, and added approximately $14,000 to her budget to properly account for town-wide borrowing costs. One participant estimated Old Colony's enrollment-driven assessment increase alone at more than $300,000, with joint Finance Committee and Board of Selectmen sessions for school budgets tentatively penciled in for late March.