Nantucket Finance panel OKs $1.3 million county budget

Finance Committee · Meeting of January 27, 2026

Nantucket Finance Committee approves $1.3 million county budget, delays action on town council charter petition. The panel, doubling as the Nantucket County Review Committee, approved a fiscal 2027 county budget of $1,329,978 by unanimous roll call, funded partly by $637,500 in projected deeds excise tax receipts and a $250,155 town assessment. Chief Financial Officer Brian Turbitt said the county's roughly $5 million fund balance is earning over 4 percent through Morgan Stanley-managed CDs and treasuries.

Later, as the Finance Committee, members heard resident Curtis Barnes defend his stalled home rule petition to create a town council, after Town Counsel John Giorgio warned it would be "problematic for a town meeting to vote to adopt a charter that the voters haven't seen." Barnes also pressed a separate petition to make Boynton Lane a public road; Town Manager Libby Gibson said staff do not recommend the change. Both petitions return to the committee February 3.

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