Carver Finance Committee Recommends $1.33 Million Capital Borrowing, Votes to Confront $4 Million Health Insurance Deficit

CARVER -- March 16, 2026, Carver Finance Committee endorses $1.33 million capital borrowing and confronts $4 million health insurance deficit. The Finance Committee voted 4-0 Monday to recommend borrowing up to $1,331,750 for six municipal capital projects, including an $800,000 fire department item and a $95,000 groundskeeper dump truck restored to the list after its transmission failed during February's blizzard, with loan payments beginning in FY28. Finance Director Beth Braga told the committee that Carver's share of a $7 million deficit in the shared Gateway Health Group, a pool with Lakeville and Old Rochester Regional School District, amounts to roughly $4 million, to be covered through approximately $1.5 million in free cash, $1.5 million from a pilot fund, and $1 million from stabilization; the committee voted 3-1 to recommend that health insurance article. The committee also cleared three special town meeting articles, voting 3-1 on a $250,000 supplemental appropriation for the North Carver Water District over one member's objection that pending dissolution legislation made large commitments premature, and 4-0 on a $60,000 EMS supplemental covered by run revenues and a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes article for a Ward Street solar array whose final terms remain unresolved. Superintendent Scott Neves and Business Manager Ron Griffin presented a balanced FY27 school budget of $26,237,430, headlined by a rare four-percentage-point decrease in out-of-district special education tuitions.