Halifax Finance Committee Withholds Recommendation on PFAS Fund Over Oversight Dispute

HALIFAX — May 11, 2026 — Halifax Finance Committee backs employee raises but pulls support for PFAS fund article over oversight concerns. The committee voted unanimously at its May 11 meeting to recommend a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment for the town's 12 to 13 non-union employees at a cost of just under $20,000, then reversed itself on Article 19, which would establish a revolving fund to hold nearly $1 million — and potentially several million more — in PFAS settlement proceeds. Member Frank Johnston argued the article's language, which placed expenditure control with the Board of Water Commissioners, was inappropriate because PFAS contamination in Halifax extends beyond drinking water to landfill monitoring wells that cost the town $40,000 a year in sampling under the Board of Health. "You can't have the fox guarding the henhouse," one member said. The committee voted unanimously to withhold its recommendation on Article 19 and said it would seek a floor amendment at Town Meeting to require Board of Selectmen approval for any expenditures from the fund.