Wareham Finance Committee Advances $26M Sewer Project and $4.85M Capital Plan

Finance Committee · Meeting of April 13, 2026

Wareham Finance Committee endorses $26 million sewer overhaul and capital plan drawn from $4.85 million in free cash. The committee voted Monday to recommend Special Articles 13 and 14, authorizing replacement of the Narrows Force Main along Sandwich Road and a new outfall to the Narrows, a project Town Administrator Derek Sullivan described as "making lemonade out of lemons" after a prior pipe-lining approach was found incompatible with the town's pressurized system. The capital plan, approved 5-0-1, draws $2,845,000 from free cash for IT infrastructure, police body cameras estimated at $250,000, two police cruisers, $1.5 million toward the Fearing Hill Bridge, and $100,000 for Wareham High School door replacements.

Superintendent Matt DeAndrade told the committee the school district's revised FY27 deficit stands at $1,212,679, equivalent to roughly 20 positions, after $1.2 million in identified reductions from an original $2.4 million gap driven largely by $658,628 in new out-of-district special education tuitions. The committee voted 4-2 to recommend the $700,000 Community Preservation Committee request for the Beaver Dam Creek cranberry bog conservation project, appraised at $1.4 million.

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Source: the Finance Committee meeting of April 13, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.