Granby Annual Town Meeting Adopts $24.5 Million Budget for Fiscal Year 2027

GRANBY — June 8, 2026 — Granby Annual Town Meeting approves $24.5 million operating budget with a floor-added playground safety fix. Voters at the June 8 session unanimously passed a $24,498,884 fiscal year 2027 budget — with no override request — after the Finance Committee's chairman, John Libera, warned that "perhaps the biggest financial risk facing Granby is complacency," pointing to shrinking stabilization funds, a 2017 state order on Forge Pond Dam still unaddressed, and more than 80 percent of free cash going toward operating expenses. The meeting's longest debate ended with a $30,000 floor amendment, sponsored by resident Crystal of 11 Taylor Street, drawing from the general stabilization fund to replace a deteriorated safety surface at East Meadow School's playground — a line the school committee had cut to hold its budget to a 1.29 percent increase. School Committee Chairperson Jennifer Bartos reported health insurance premiums rose more than 30 percent this year and that the district leveraged more than $2 million in grants to offset costs. The meeting also approved a new single-stream recycling contract with USA Waste and Recycling at $670,879 — roughly $20,000 more than last year — with new curbside carts set for delivery the week of June 19, and transferred $1,911,256 from free cash to reduce the tax levy.