Sherborn Select Board Hears Budget Warning, Promotes Officer to Sergeant

Select Board · Meeting of January 27, 2026

Sherborn Select Board swears in new sergeant and receives a tight preliminary budget outlook for the coming fiscal year. The board opened its January 27 meeting by promoting Jeff Lynch, a Sherborn officer since 2022 with roughly 16 years of prior service at the Boston Police Department, to sergeant after Lynch scored in the mid-90s on a written exam and five-officer panel review. Town Administrator Jeremy Marsette and budget staff then presented a spending framework asking departments to hold increases to 2.5 percent, with personnel costs consuming approximately 62 percent of the operating budget.

The largest capital item on the table is a $1.7 million Fuel Island project, potentially reduced by a pending $450,000 culvert grant. Staff said the town is transitioning away from using free cash for capital purchases toward a reserve-funded model, and called the current year likely the last in which free cash will be used to reduce the tax rate. Several unfunded personnel requests, including $114,000 in ambulance EMT pay and a new police civilian position, remain unresolved heading into Finance Committee departmental reviews scheduled for February 9 and February 23.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of January 27, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.