Carver Select Board Approves Opioid Funds, Forms EMS Panel Amid $4M Health Crisis

CARVER -- March 3, 2026, Carver Select Board approves opioid funds, forms EMS building committee, and confronts a $4 million health insurance shortfall. The board voted unanimously Tuesday to commit $14,500 in opioid settlement funds to Plymouth County Outreach, whose executive director told the board the program has correlated with a 61 percent drop in fatal overdoses across Plymouth County since 2017. The board also unanimously established a seven-member Emergency Medical Services Building Committee, including EMS Chief Mike Ryan and Town Administrator Glen Cannon, to begin planning a replacement for the department's current 3,600-square-foot station, which a feasibility study found falls far short of the 13,000 square feet needed. The night's most contested item was the fiscal year 2027 operating budget of roughly $54 million, which the Finance Committee voted 0-5 against recommending after Cannon disclosed a projected $4 million health insurance deficit, Carver's 55 percent share of a $7 million shortfall within the Gateway Health Group shared insurance pool, that the town is proposing to cover through a combination of free cash, stabilization funds, and PILOT revenue; the Select Board voted 4-1 to recommend the budget anyway, with the warrant posting deadline of March 6 leaving no room to delay.