The Town of Danvers Select Board on March 1, 2025, reviewed a proposed fiscal year 2026 operating and capital spending plan that town staff said is being pushed by an unusually large health insurance renewal, rising retirement contributions and continued special-education and transportation pressures in the school budget. The board approved a set of department budgets and a set-aside for finance committee contingencies during the meeting.

Town Manager Rodney (Rod) Conley opened the budget review with a municipal overview, saying the town faces a long-term retirement funding schedule and a higher-than-normal health-insurance renewal. He said the town’s OPEB and stabilization reserves remain priorities, and that the draft FY26 plan uses a combination of state aid, local receipts and limited use of reserves to balance the municipal side of the ledger.

Why it matters: Select Board members and staff stressed that the health-insurance and retirement lines are structural pressures that affect long-term affordability of services. Conley said the town’s retirement system must make roughly an 8% higher contribution annually until the fund is fully funded, and the 10.91% health-insurance renewal for FY26 creates several hundred thousand dollars in new cost pressure the town and schools had to absorb.

Most important actions and items
- Health insurance: The town’s pooled municipal plan (MIIA/MAYA) presented a 10.91% renewal for calendar 2025; town staff and the school district said they must absorb that increase in FY26. Conley said Danvers’ renewal was toward the lower end of the range received by peer communities but still large relative to a 2.5% annual budget guideline. Department heads said the increase is driven by higher utilization, prescription costs and broader market forces.
- Retirement funding: Conley noted the town’s pension plan is on a long-term path and will require recurring annual increases in the retirement contribution until the fund reaches its funding target.
- Free cash and reserves: The town reported a certified free-cash level that includes a handful of one-time items (landfill revenue and strong investment returns); staff said the typical target for the unassigned balance remains 3–5% of net operating revenue.

Danvers Public Schools presentation: Superintendent Dan Bauer and School Committee Chair Gabe Lopes presented the school request and described investments in special-education programming and transportation. The district proposed a 3.8% operating increase driven by contractual salary obligations and non-salary special-education costs; Bauer said investments made in the prior year—new special-education staffing, new autism strands, therapeutic programs and an expanded transportation fleet—are slowing the year-to-year growth in out-of-district tuition and transportation costs. The school team described grant wins (roughly $684,000 in the past year) and pilot work with the North Shore regional transportation collaborative that could eventually reduce transportation costs.

Essex North Shore (Essex Tech) presentation: Shannon Donnelly (assistant superintendent) and the school’s business official presented the regional vocational school’s budget and Danvers’ assessment. Essex Tech said its enrollment of Danvers students has shifted slightly but remains a substantial part of the district’s pupil base; the region is negotiating a new multi-district transportation procurement and asked member towns to anticipate a 4–5% assessment increase driven primarily by salary and capital needs.

Library and other departments: Noelle Bach, library director, described modest operational growth (roughly 2–3%) and a continued rise in circulation and program demand. IT director Colby Cousins summarized ongoing townwide technology consolidation (enterprise Microsoft 365 migration, a 5‑year replacement cycle, shared cybersecurity procurement with neighboring towns) and said near-term operating demands are level after a larger investment last year.

Votes at a glance (approved at the meeting)
- Danvers Public Schools operating budget (FY26): motion to move/approve the school budget as presented — APPROVED (unanimous). (Motion moved by Town Manager Rodney Conley; seconded; recorded vote: unanimous ‘Aye’ )
- Town Library operating budget: approved as presented — APPROVED (unanimous).
- Information Technology operating budget: approved as presented — APPROVED (unanimous).
- Accounting, Assessing, Treasurer/Collector, Debt Service, Retirement contribution, Fire Department operating budget, Police Department operating budget, Public Works (tax-funded) operating budget: each was discussed and approved in turn by the Select Board (motions made, seconded; votes recorded as unanimous ‘Aye’ unless otherwise indicated in the official minutes).
- Water and Sewer enterprise budgets: approved after presentations by department staff (motions made, seconded; votes recorded in the minutes).
- Other department budgets approved during the meeting: library, land-use & community services divisions (inspection, health, planning, veterans, senior & social services), recreation, legal counsel, town moderator, town clerk, finance-committee reserve (level funded), human resources, town management, department-head line item, and select-board line items. (All approved by recorded motions during the meeting.)

What the board asked staff to follow up on
- Health-insurance strategy: staff were asked to bring options to the board and to the town’s insurance advisory committee this spring for analysis (plan design, wellness, high-deductible options and potential shared regional purchasing).
- Pension / retirement schedule: staff said they would continue to report actuarial results and to show annual increases associated with achieving the funding target.
- Transportation procurement savings: the school superintendent asked the board to note the district’s participation in the North Shore regional transportation bid and said the pilot may yield an estimated 10% saving for participating districts but cautioned that savings can’t be counted until actual contracts are returned.

Bottom line: The Select Board completed the full line-by-line FY26 budget review and approved the department-level budgets presented at the session. Board members and staff emphasized two structural pressures we will continue to track closely—health-insurance inflation and higher pension contributions—and requested further analysis and recommendations over the spring warrant and warrant‑article process.

Ending: Several department heads said they will follow up with detailed line items and supporting documents for FinCom and for town meeting voters; the full FY26 budget book will be posted ahead of the warrant process.

Votes and formal outcomes recorded during the meeting are summarized in the “Votes at a glance” section above; readers should consult the official minutes (town clerk) for the verbatim roll-call records and the final warrant articles that will be published before Town Meeting.