Westport Finance Committee Recommends $60.1 Million FY27 Budget for Town Meeting

WESTPORT — March 24, 2026 — Westport Finance Committee approves $60.1 million FY27 budget and deadlocks 4-4 on a new collective bargaining stabilization fund. The eight-member panel worked through all 34 articles on the May 5 annual town meeting warrant Tuesday, voting unanimously to recommend a $60,105,067 fiscal year 2027 budget that includes $426,050 in free cash and an $80,000 Finance Committee addition to the Select Board's February figure. The most contentious item was a paired proposal to create and fund a collective bargaining and non-union personnel stabilization fund with $108,000 in free cash — the creation article passed 5-3, but the funding article deadlocked 4-4, sending it to town meeting without a committee endorsement. Member Nancy Stanton Cross called the fund "inequitable" for not explicitly covering school unions — the town's largest employer — while member Gary Carrero, citing six years of experience with a similar fund in Dartmouth, called it "the proper use of free cash" for long-term workforce planning. A separate article authorizing up to $5 million in borrowing to retain tax title properties was tabled to the committee's April 21 meeting after member Al Lees said flatly, "The number is too high."