Mashpee Select Board Unanimously Votes to Put $4 Million Override on Ballot

MASHPEE — March 16, 2026 — Mashpee Select Board unanimously placed a two-phased $4 million Proposition 2½ override on the ballot, the first override request in at least 29 years. Town Manager Rodney Collins told the board that the town faces a roughly $1.5 million shortfall for fiscal year 2027, driven by operational costs from the expanding wastewater system, with cuts of $181,945 to police, $189,189 to fire, $187,773 to public works, and $756,338 to schools if the override fails. The board also voted five to zero to recommend the $12 million Phase 3 wastewater design article targeting 1,050 residences in the Waquoit Bay watershed, with the Finance Committee's unanimous support and State Revolving Fund eligibility — worth an estimated $200 million in savings on a $150 million implementation project — as key rationale. The board tabled an $11.5 million HVAC and fire suppression upgrade at Quashnet Intermediate School pending a detailed cost breakdown, though it approved the companion debt exclusion ballot question to preserve the town meeting timeline. On the Amos House historic preservation request — $428,000 from the Community Preservation Fund for a privately owned property at 701 Great Neck Road South — the board added the article to the warrant by a three-to-two vote but then voted five to zero not to recommend it, citing the absence of public access and a prior unanimous Finance Committee vote against the project.