Edgartown voters will be deciding whether the town should pursue a $3 million purchase of the Martha’s Vineyard Boys & Girls Club building, and a more than $900,000 increase to the overall budget, at the upcoming special and annual town meetings that may lead to increased property taxes, among dozens of other spending requests.
The meeting begins at 7 pm at the Old Whaling Church on Main Street, on Tuesday, April 14. The town election, when Edgartown voters will cast their ballots for town officials and two ballot questions, requesting Proposition 2½ law overrides to fund the town’s increased 2027 fiscal budget, and the purchase of the Boys & Girls Club property, is set for Thursday, April 16, from 10 am to 7 pm at Edgartown Town Hall.
“We hope we reach quorum and start at 7. There’s a lot of important town business that we have,” said Town Administrator James Hagerty.
Edgartown has 72 annual warrant articles and 11 special warrant articles, two of which will be requesting voters to approve a Proposition 2½ override, which would increase how much the town can collect through property taxes.
“You look at the newspapers, and the majority of Massachusetts towns are in some sort of general budget-override situation,” said Hagerty.
Article 6 of the annual warrant seeks an increase in funding for Edgartown’s fiscal year 2027 operating budget, which begins July 1. Edgartown is requesting to raise $900,090 of its budget through an override, which is dependent on voter approval on ballot question 1. If approved by voters, the override will allow the town to raise additional real estate and personal property taxes for education costs, external assessments, and municipal operating expenses.
Edgartown is requesting an overall 8.4 percent increase to its more than $53 million operating budget from last year’s $49.7 million budget. Edgartown’s town meeting warrant cites continued cost pressures in areas such as education, employee benefits, regional assessments, and debt service.
“The override is intended to maintain municipal services while addressing these structural cost increases within the constraints of Proposition 2.5,” said Edgartown’s financial advisory committee in the warrant. “The committee believes the budget presented to town meeting reflects a balanced approach to maintaining municipal services, supporting and retaining a qualified workforce, and preserving Edgartown’s long-term financial stability.”
Edgartown is also seeking to raise an additional $500,000 to acquire the Boys & Girls Club property located at 4 M Daniels Lane. Article 33 asks voters for a total of $3 million to acquire the property, $2 million of which would come from the town’s Capital Stabilization Fund, $500,000 in free cash, and the additional $500,000, if the Proposition 2½ override ballot question is approved by voters, will have an impact on the tax rate.
Officials have previously discussed potential future uses of the Boys & Girls Club building, such as a new Council on Aging facility or a parks department space. The Boys & Girls Club broke ground on its new building in August. The new facility, planned to be almost double the size of the club’s current location, will be located behind the Robinson Road recreation area.
Both of the overrides need to be approved at town meeting before they can be voted on at town election.
Article 7 through 24 in the annual warrant draws from Community Preservation Act funds to support affordable housing, historic preservation, and open space and recreation activity. These requests include $240,750 toward affordable housing at 294 Chappaquiddick Road, $260,000 to restore windows, add storm windows, and repair a weathervane at Edgartown Town Hall, a historic building constructed in 1828. These articles also include $200,000 for restoration work on Osborn’s Wharf, a historic 1840 finger pier in Edgartown Harbor, and $212,275 to upgrade Edgartown’s floating docks in multiple locations.
Other notable spending includes special town meeting article 7, which if approved will appropriate $172,500 from Free Cash to supplement the town’s 2026 snow and ice budget, due to a deficit created by this past winter season, and appropriate $17,500 from free cash to the highway department’s expense accounts for tree removal as a result of storm damage.
“We wanted to be pretty transparent about what we spent, because it was a significant winter, “ said Hagerty.
Meanwhile, the annual warrant proposes a 3.2 percent cost of living adjustment for town employees, creating new planning and zoning administrator positions, and updated town salaries based on a recent classification study.
The town is also looking to change its policies, such as increasing fines for false alarms (article 68), lowering town meeting quorum from 5 percent to 2.5 percent of registered voters (article 69), updating zoning rules for accessory dwelling units (article 70), and clarifying who makes shore-zone construction decisions in the town, to align with MVC regulations (article 71).
The bylaw regulating large events is also coming back to be amended before voters via a citizen’s petition. This was passed last year, to allow 50 or more persons on a single lot comprising three or more acres of land, including the service of food and beverages, such as rentals for wedding or graduation parties, and other celebrations, but the updated proposal will limit.
“This conditionally permitted use shall not apply to pre-existing nonconforming commercial uses, nor shall it be construed to permit the increase of a pre-existing nonconforming commercial use lawfully in existence,” reads the proposed amendment.
Residents can review the full warrants on the Edgartowns website at bit.ly/EDG_WarrantBook.
“Everyone needs to remember that starting Jan. 1 of this year, we start automatically appropriating funds from short-term rental money to capital stabilization funds; the majority of the town’s articles every year are funded through free cash,” said Hagerty.