Your Equity Guide to the May 2026 Holliston Town Meeting

A Primer from Diverse Holliston

Town Meeting: Monday, May 11, 2026 | 7:00 p.m. | Holliston High School

Read the full May 2026 Town Meeting Warrant →

Town Meeting is one of the most direct forms of democracy we have. Every registered voter in Holliston has a seat, a voice, and a vote. And while the warrant can feel dense — full of legal language, finance committee footnotes, and references to obscure Massachusetts General Laws chapters — what's actually being decided affects everyone in this community. Although not always equally, and that's why we're here.

This primer walks through the May 2026 warrant with an equity and inclusion lens. We're not telling you how to vote. We're offering the questions we think are worth asking — and the context that doesn't always make it into the official comments.

How Town Meeting Works (TL;DR)

Each "Article" in the warrant is a separate item that voters debate and vote on. The Finance Committee and Select Board provide recommendations, but voters are not bound by them. You can move to amend articles, request a standing count, or simply ask questions from the floor before a vote is called.

The Secretary of the Commonwealth publishes a Citizen's Guide to Town Meetings if you'd like to learn more about how the process works.

Articles Worth Close Attention

Articles 9, 10, 11: Senior Property Tax Relief (Expanded)

What they do: These three articles expand and index property tax exemptions for senior residents — lowering the qualifying age, increasing exemption amounts, and adding annual cost-of-living adjustments so the benefits don't erode over time.

Why they matter for equity: Property taxes are regressive. They don't adjust to your income — they adjust to your home value, which means a long-time resident on a fixed income can be taxed right out of the community they've lived in for decades. These articles are a meaningful step toward keeping Holliston accessible to older residents who aren't wealthy.

Questions worth asking:

• How many Holliston seniors currently qualify for these exemptions? How many are newly eligible under the expanded income limits?

• Are eligible residents being actively notified, or do they have to find out on their own?

Article 12: Short-Term Property Tax Deferral for Any Homeowner Facing Hardship

What it does: Allows the Town to defer property taxes for up to three years for property owners of any age experiencing a temporary financial hardship.

Why it matters for equity: This is one of the most universally inclusive financial relief tools in the warrant. It acknowledges that financial hardship can happen to anyone, and it gives families and individuals a bridge rather than a cliff. The details of how "temporary financial hardship" is defined and administered will matter enormously.

Questions worth asking:

• Who determines eligibility, and how? What's the application process?

• How will the Town publicize this option so residents who need it can actually find it?

Article 13 & 14: Veterans' Tax Relief

What they do: Add cost-of-living adjustments to veterans' property tax exemptions, and extend full exemptions to surviving parents and guardians of service members killed or lost in action.

Why it matters for equity: Veterans and Gold Star families are often invisible in civic conversations about equity. These articles offer real, concrete recognition of their sacrifice. Article 14 in particular closes a gap for a small but deeply affected group of Holliston families.

Article 16: Means-Tested Senior Exemption for Debt Exclusion Construction Projects

What it does: Asks Town Meeting to petition the state legislature for a special act that would allow lower-income seniors to be exempted from a portion of the property tax increases caused by large debt exclusion-funded construction projects (like a new school).

Why it matters for equity: This article is forward-looking. When towns borrow big — for schools, public works facilities, and other major projects — the cost lands on everyone's tax bill through a debt exclusion. That's a fair way to spread the cost, except when the people who can least afford it have no relief. This article is designed to ensure that seniors who meet income and asset thresholds aren't pushed out by the very investments their community is making.

The article requires applicants to have owned a home in Holliston for at least 10 consecutive years. That's a long bar. Seniors who rented for most of their lives, or who moved here in the last decade, won't qualify — even if their incomes are equally limited.

Questions worth asking:

• Why 10 years? Is there flexibility in how this residency requirement is structured?

• In Fiscal Year 2026, only 33 people met the qualifications. Is this relief reaching the people who need it most?

Article 21: Department Head Compensation Study

What it does: Appropriates $10,000 for an independent study of how Town department head salaries compare to similar municipalities.

Why it matters for equity: Compensation studies are one of the tools towns use to identify and address pay inequity. The Select Board's comments note the study will help with "recruitment, retention, and long-term workforce sustainability" — but the value here also depends on how the study is conducted and what it looks at. A study that only looks at market comparisons won't surface gender or racial pay gaps if those aren't explicitly part of the scope.

Questions worth asking:

• Will the study examine pay equity by gender, race, or other demographic dimensions, or only market comparability?

• Will the results be made public?

Article 23: Community Preservation Funding

What it does: Allocates $1.31 million from the Community Preservation Fund across several categories: open space, historic preservation, recreational facilities (including a $650,000 bike park and $260,000 in baseball/softball upgrades), and reserves.

Why it matters for equity: The Community Preservation Act requires towns to set aside at least 10% of CPA funds for community housing. This warrant does exactly the minimum — $96,875 — while directing $910,000 (about 70% of appropriations) to recreational facilities. There is no active affordable housing production funded in this warrant.

Recreational infrastructure matters. But parks and playing fields are not equally accessible to all residents, and they are not a substitute for housing. Holliston's housing costs continue to rise, and the gap between what the Town collects in CPA funds for housing and what it actually spends on housing production grows each year this pattern continues.

Questions worth asking:

• What is the current balance in the Community Housing Reserve? How much has accumulated without being spent?

• Is there a plan for how those housing funds will be used — and when?

• Who uses the recreational facilities being funded here? Are they accessible to residents with disabilities, residents without cars, and families across income levels?

Article 25: High School Feasibility Study

What it does: Appropriates up to $2.5 million for a feasibility study to explore renovation or replacement of Holliston High School, in connection with a potential Massachusetts School Building Authority grant. The Holliston School Building Committee's webpage has more information as it becomes available.

Why it matters for equity: Every student in Holliston deserves a school building that's safe, modern, and conducive to learning. A new or renovated high school, if it comes to a debt exclusion vote, will also be one of the largest tax increases many residents will face in a generation. Article 16's means-tested senior exemption was designed partly with this project in mind — and the two articles should be understood together.

Questions worth asking:

• How will the community engagement process for the feasibility study ensure that all voices are heard — including families who are renters, recent arrivals, or who face language barriers?

• If a debt exclusion ultimately comes to a vote, what relief mechanisms will be in place for residents who can't absorb the increase?

Articles 26, 29, 30: New Residential Development (Constitution Village & Jasper Hill)

What they do: These articles accept new public roads and grant easements to facilitate residential development at two sites.

Why it matters for equity: New housing is generally welcome in a region with a severe affordability crisis. But the warrant does not indicate whether either development includes any affordable or deed-restricted units. Market-rate-only development increases the town's housing stock without improving affordability — and in some cases accelerates price increases in surrounding neighborhoods.

Questions worth asking:

• Do either of these developments include any affordable, workforce, or deed-restricted units?

• Did the Planning Board's approval process include any discussion of inclusionary zoning or affordability requirements?

Where Did That Go? Unfinished Equity Business from Past Warrants

Town Meetings have their own kind of memory — or lack of one. Ideas get raised, discussed, sometimes passed, and then quietly disappear before they produce lasting change. Here's a reckoning with the equity-related threads from recent years that deserve a public accounting.

Non-Citizen Voting Rights: Raised in 2024

This section has been updated since it was originally published, based on feedback from Select Board member Damon Dimmick. The original version can be seen here.

In August 2024, a Holliston resident brought a proposal to the Select Board: a Home Rule petition to allow non-U.S. citizen residents to vote in municipal elections. The resident, who has lived in Holliston for years and still hasn't received a green card after a 17-year process, made the case that taxation without representation is a real and present reality for many of her neighbors. The Holliston Town News covered the original discussion in full.

Select Board Chair Tina Hein expressed personal support, noting she grew up in Holliston as a non-citizen herself. And the following February, Select Board member Damon Dimmick publicly committed to draft an article for the May 2025 Town Meeting warrant.

But it never appeared. That's because similar Home Rule petitions in other local communities have stalled after the state's legal counsel found them unconstitutional under the Massachusetts Constitution as it's currently written. 

Dimmick has explained that while the petition could be brought to Town Meeting as a symbolic gesture, a failed vote would send the wrong message at the state level — which is where the real barrier sits. In his view, the more productive path is legislative change in Boston, where bills like H.671 from Rep. Mike Connolly of Cambridge are already filed and designed to do exactly that.

Dimmick has offered to connect interested residents with James Arena-DeRosa, State Representative of the 8th Middlesex District who also lives in Holliston, to discuss what's realistic.

Questions worth asking: What would it look like for Holliston to go on record in support of state legislation on this? And is there appetite in the community to push that conversation

Non-Voter Speaking Rights: Passed in 2024

This section has been updated since it was originally published, based on additional research. The original version can be seen here.

At the October 2024 Town Meeting, Select Board member Damon Dimmick sponsored Article 20, which would have amended Holliston's General Bylaws to formally authorize the Moderator to recognize non-voters to speak on articles under discussion. The stated purpose was to ensure that all residents — regardless of voter registration status — could participate in some capacity in the legislative process.

The article was indefinitely postponed, but not because the goal was rejected. During debate, the Vice Chair of the Select Board and Town Counsel both pointed out that the Moderator already has this discretion under a proper reading of state law — making the bylaw technically unnecessary. The underlying principle passed the test; the formal amendment didn't.

In practice, this means the Moderator can already recognize non-citizen residents, town employees who live outside Holliston, and others in the gallery to speak — they just aren't required to. If you know someone who should be heard at Town Meeting but can't vote, they can ask to be recognized.

The problem is that almost no one knows this. The Moderator's existing discretion has never been prominently communicated, publicized in outreach materials, or referenced in subsequent warrants.

Questions worth asking at the start of Town Meeting: How does the Moderator intend to exercise this discretion? Will non-voters in the gallery be invited to indicate if they wish to speak?

Cannabis Social Equity Policy: Discussed in 2025

State law now requires Massachusetts municipalities with cannabis businesses to adopt a Social Equity Policy, designed to promote participation by people most harmed by the War on Drugs — including communities of color and people with past drug convictions. The Cannabis Control Commission set an enforcement deadline with fines for non-compliant communities beginning March 1, 2025.

Holliston's Select Board meeting minutes from February 10, 2025 show Town Counsel recommending the Town adopt a policy, with a draft to be presented at the next meeting. There is no public record of that draft being presented, adopted, or brought before Town Meeting. Given the CCC enforcement deadline has passed, this may now be both an equity issue and a compliance issue.

Questions worth asking: Has Holliston adopted a Cannabis Social Equity Policy? If not, is the Town currently out of compliance — and at risk of fines?

MBTA 3A Zoning: Passed in 2024

Holliston passed its MBTA 3A compliant zoning overlay at the October 2024 Fall Town Meeting — a genuine accomplishment. Diverse Holliston wrote about the housing context in the Holliston Reporter ahead of that vote. Holliston is now a compliant community, and is not at risk of losing state grants the way towns like Milton and Tewksbury have been. You can read the full 3A overlay article language here. Since then, five Chapter 40B projects are currently in the pipeline, working their way through design review and the Zoning Board of Appeals. By law, these projects must include at least 10% affordable units, so if they move forward, they will add deed-restricted affordable housing to Holliston's inventory.

What's not happening is the Town putting its own money toward affordable housing production. The Community Preservation Act requires towns to set aside at least 10% of CPA funds for community housing each year, but in Holliston those funds continue to accumulate in reserve without a spending plan. This month's warrant appropriates $910,000 in CPA funds for recreational facilities while directing the minimum $96,875 to housing. The 40B pipeline depends on private developers choosing to build; it isn't a substitute for proactive investment.

The zoning was the beginning of the work, not the end of it.

Questions worth asking: What is the status of each of the five 40B projects — and what can residents do to support or engage with the Zoning Board of Appeals review process? What is the current balance in the Community Housing Reserve, and is there a plan to direct those funds toward actual housing production?

Select Board Expansion: Citizen Petition in 2022

At the May 2022 Annual Town Meeting, a citizen's petition sought to expand the Select Board from three members to five, with staggered three-year terms. A larger board creates more seats for diverse voices in town governance and reduces the concentration of decision-making power in a very small group. The outcome of that vote is not clearly documented in available public records, and the idea has not reappeared on any subsequent warrant.

Questions worth asking: What happened to the 2022 petition? Has there been any evaluation of whether a five-member Select Board would better represent Holliston's growing and diversifying community?

Town Meeting Accessibility

The October 2024 Town Administrator's message documented several meaningful access improvements made administratively: direct mail postcards to notify residents, warrant translation into over 100 languages with Zoom simulcast and closed captioning, on-site child care at the last six Town Meetings supported by the Holliston Community Action Fund, and temporary increased ADA parking at the request of the Council on Aging.

These are real equity wins. But they exist entirely at the discretion of the Town Administrator and have no permanent funding or policy basis in the bylaws. If a future Town Administrator decides to discontinue them, nothing requires they be maintained.

Questions worth asking: Will child care, translation services, and ADA parking be provided again at the May 2026 Town Meeting? Should these accessibility features be codified in Town policy or bylaw so they're guaranteed — not discretionary?

DEI as a Strategic Priority

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion is one of Holliston's seven official Strategic Plan priorities. When the Select Board formed a Town Manager screening panel in January 2025, they explicitly appointed a DEI representative alongside representatives for Education, Financial Stability, and other priorities. The Strategic Plan itself calls for Holliston to "increase and diversify the Town's housing stock" and pursue "attainable, equitable, and affordable housing."

Yet DEI has never appeared as a funded line item, a standalone bylaw, or a warrant article. It is a stated value without structural implementation — named in governance documents, absent from budgets.

Questions worth asking: What concrete actions has the Town taken to advance its DEI strategic priority this year? Is there a plan to bring DEI implementation — in hiring, contracting, community engagement, or services — before Town Meeting as a fundable commitment?

How to Participate

Come to Town Meeting. It's Monday, May 11 at 7:00 p.m. at Holliston High School (370 Hollis Street). Subsequent nights (May 12, 13) are reserved if needed. You do not need to register in advance. Bring your voter registration card or ID. Check your registration status here.

Only registered voters may speak and vote. Registered voters are seated on the floor and may debate and vote on every article. Residents who are not registered voters — including non-citizen residents, young people under 18, and town employees who live outside Holliston — may attend and observe from a gallery, but cannot speak or vote.

That's the law, and we're not suggesting otherwise. But it means that some of the people most directly affected by decisions made at Town Meeting — a non-citizen neighbor whose child attends Holliston schools, a DPW worker who can't afford to live in the town they serve, a teenager who will inherit whatever the adults decide tonight — have no formal voice in the room. That's a structural inequity baked into the Town Meeting model itself, and it's worth naming.

Non-voters may ask to be recognized. Under a bylaw passed at the October 2024 Town Meeting, the Moderator may — at their sole discretion — recognize a non-voter in the gallery to speak on an article under discussion. This is not a guarantee, but it is a right to ask. If you know a neighbor, coworker, or community member who isn't a registered voter but has something important to say, encourage them to attend and raise their hand.

If you are a registered voter, that's not a small thing. You hold a proxy for a lot of people who can't be heard. Use it thoughtfully.

You can speak. When an article is called, the Moderator opens the floor. Walk to a microphone, state your name and precinct, and make your comment or ask your question. You don't need to be an expert. You don't need permission. It counts.

You can move to amend. If you believe an article should be modified — its dollar amount changed, a condition added, language altered — you can move to amend it from the floor. You'll need a second, and the amendment will be debated and voted on before the main article.

You can request a standing count. If a voice vote result is unclear or contested, any voter can request a standing count for a more accurate tally.

Want to go deeper? The Town posts all warrant materials, Finance Committee reports, and past Town Meeting minutes at the Town Meetings page. The Select Board page has meeting minutes going back years — a useful resource for tracking what was promised and what was delivered.