Brimfield Select Board Flags $380,000 Budget Gap, Orders CivicPlus Investigation

Select Board · Meeting of April 22, 2026

Brimfield Select Board reviews $380,000 budget shortfall and authorizes probe of website vendor. The board's April 22 meeting was dominated by a budget presentation showing recurring expenses outpacing revenues by roughly $380,000 for fiscal year 2027, with the regional school assessment up $477,704, the elementary school assessment up $530,000, and the trash contract up $206,462, more than double its 2023 cost. State aid grew by just 0.1 percent, adding only $2,205 in new revenue.

The board identified a trash and recycling fee, a Proposition 2 1/2 override, or service reductions as the available remedies. Chair Martin Kelly also moved to authorize a full investigation after the town's website vendor, CivicPlus, had a contractor unilaterally change user passwords without notice, calling the company's one-sentence apology "unacceptable." The board voted unanimously to proceed, with plans to involve IT staff from Tantasqua Regional High School. Separately, the board directed Administrative Assistant Chris DeFalco and Member Christopher DeBruin to merge competing draft AI use policies and issued an interim directive barring town employees from entering personally identifiable information into any AI platform pending full board adoption of a final policy.

In the full story:

• The complete report, 1,075 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of April 22, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.