Select Board declines to back meals tax split plan

Select Board · Meeting of September 16, 2026

ASHLAND — The Ashland Select Board declined to back former member Steve Mitchell's plan to split the town's local meals tax revenue evenly between economic development and a new "resident services" fund. Assistant Town Manager Beth Reynolds said the economic development fund, worth roughly $310,000 a year with a $440,505 reserve, has funded 38 businesses since 2018 through grants and Needham Bank-backed interest-free loans. Members Yolanda Greaves and Claudia Bennett said a 50-50 split would gut department staffing, with Greaves asking Mitchell, "Would you be agreeable to an eighty-twenty?" Library Trustees chair Claire Goss pushed back on the framing, saying "we cannot use friends money for salaries." The board took no vote and asked for more analysis before Mitchell's citizen's petition reaches the November 10 Special Town Meeting.

Separately, the board voted 5-0 to appoint a 10-member Comprehensive Plan Implementation Team, raised its Boston Marathon bib fundraising minimum from $3,000 to $4,000, approved a $400 donation for the Ashland Indians' Festival of Lights, and continued a contested Oregon Road utility pole hearing to October 7.

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• Who Was There
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Source: the Select Board meeting of September 16, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.