Bridgewater Finance Committee Approves FY27 Budget With One Abstention

BRIDGEWATER -- May 4, 2026, Bridgewater Finance Committee votes 6-1 to recommend FY27 town budget amid a $4 million school shortfall and sweeping workweek cuts. The committee, meeting May 4, opened by unanimously electing a new chair, Dana, to replace the previous chair who had won a Town Council seat. Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District Superintendent Robert Powers told the panel the district must absorb roughly $4 million in reductions, including eliminating 10 proposed position restorations, leaving three administrative vacancies unfilled, and shifting English language learner staff onto grant funding, to match what the two member towns can provide. A competitive health insurance bid process drove the district's premium increase from a projected 15 percent down to 7.4 percent, saving approximately $860,000, while the town's own health insurance landed at a separate 10 percent increase. Town Administrator Justin Casanova-Davis confirmed that most non-public-safety town employees are moving from 40- to 35-hour workweeks, a reduction he said amounts to more than 30,000 lost work hours annually. Mark was the sole abstention on the budget vote; the committee also unanimously approved water, sewer, and transfer station enterprise funds, revolving fund authorizations, and the adjusted Town Clerk salary, the last of which drew an abstention from Derrick Bennett.