Stoneham Select Board Keeps $14.6 Million Override on April 1 Ballot

STONEHAM — February 25, 2025 — Stoneham Select Board reaffirmed its $14.6 million Proposition 2½ override for the April 1 ballot while approving a sober living home and a 46-unit housing project. Town Administrator Dennis Sheehan outlined a phasing strategy under which the town would not tax to the full levy limit in year one, limiting the initial average single-family tax increase to roughly $1,100 instead of $1,600, while keeping the ballot question unchanged. A failed override, Sheehan said, would trigger roughly $925,000 in town-side cuts — including two patrol officers, two DPW mechanics, and elimination of a $125,000 trash subsidy — while still leaving the school department with an estimated $3.5 million gap. The board unanimously approved the use of a men's nonprofit sober living home at 490 William Street, the former Arnold House, under the state's Dover Amendment, which bars local zoning denial; owner Tim McDonald said he plans to open with 29 beds and to name the facility after his brother, who died of a drug overdose in 1980. A Select Board candidate forum is set for March 4 at Town Hall.