Oakham Select Board adopts FY2026 budget within levy limit, avoids override

OAKHAM — May 13, 2025 — Oakham Select Board adopts FY2026 budget within levy limit after school assessment cut. The board voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a balanced fiscal year 2026 budget after a last-minute $62,749.83 reduction in the town's Quabbin Regional School District assessment — dropping Oakham's share to $2,728,039.47 — combined with across-the-board departmental cuts left the town roughly $350,000 under its levy cap. Board member Maribel Brusnel, who serves on the district's budget subcommittee, reported the assessment increase fell from 4.31 percent to 1.97 percent after the district eliminated unfilled retirement positions and trimmed line items throughout the budget. The board also received a six-month performance review from Highway Superintendent Patrick Martirosian, who flagged deteriorating drainage infrastructure, dam safety concerns at Adams Pond and a privately owned dam on Crawford Road, and Robinson Road Bridge as a potential closure risk pending inspection. Martirosian said the highway department logged 188.5 hours of superintendent time above his contracted hours since November and acquired a new roadside mower at no net cost to the budget after a $12,500 equipment trade-in. The board agreed to place a vote on its May 27 agenda to stop plowing a stalled subdivision's private road after three years of unresolved road acceptance proceedings.