Brookline Select Board Approves Town-School MOU, Authorizes $146,000 for Housing Planner

BROOKLINE — June 16, 2026 — Brookline Select Board approves town-school partnership MOU and $146,000 housing trust transfer at summer workshop. The board voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a memorandum of understanding between the Public Schools of Brookline and the Town of Brookline, designed to implement recommendations of the Expenditures and Revenue Study Committee on shared services and finances, and separately authorized $146,000 from the affordable housing trust fund to cover the senior housing planner position for fiscal year 2027, flagged as a one-year bridge until general fund restoration. Finance Director Melissa Teixeira presented preliminary modeling projecting a structural deficit of $25 million to $28 million over the three years after the current override cycle ends, a figure she said could shift by $10 million in either direction. Planning Director Kara Brewton's development presentation showed that closing that gap through apartment construction alone would require 4,600 to 16,000 new units over three years — against a current pace of roughly 499 net new units annually. The board also voted unanimously to allow on-premise alcohol licensees to remain open until 3 a.m. on World Cup match nights subject to police approval, appointed Sean O'Neill to the Commission for Women and Vasily Domenkov to the Preservation Commission, and directed staff to prepare a June 30 vote to formally close or merge several dormant committees, including consolidating the surveillance oversight and information technology advisory committees under member Anthony Ishak.