GREAT BARRINGTON — For at least 20 years, a lifeguard has watched over the beach at Lake Mansfield. But in the interest of keeping taxes down, the beach has gone unguarded for the entirety of June.

“I worry for the kids,” Great Barrington resident Lily Forsta said while at the beach last week. “Yes, parents are vigilant, but it’s extra hard with water safety, and it always feels that much safer to have another person watching.”

After voters rejected a Proposition 2½ override in May, funding for Lake Mansfield lifeguards and six other town initiatives disappeared along with it.

Now, residents will have another chance Monday to restore that funding at a special town meeting prompted by a citizens petition. The proposal would use nearly $350,000 in free cash to pay for the seven items, including lifeguards for the remainder of the summer.

But the vote comes with a complication: Funding both the lifeguards and the other articles on the warrant would push the amount of free cash requested beyond what the town has available.

Visitors enjoy a shady spot recently at Lake Mansfield in Great Barrington. The beach has has no lifeguards in June because of a lack of funding, but voters on Monday could help to change that.

If residents vote to bring lifeguards back to Lake Mansfield, the Select Board will need to choose whether to fund the lifeguard program over other services.

At its annual town meeting last month, the town initially approved using free cash for the seven items, but that spending was contingent on passage of the override. When voters rejected the tax increase, roughly $2 million in free cash was instead used to close the fiscal 2026 budget gap, leaving the initiatives unfunded.

Funding for Lake Mansfield lifeguards through June already had been approved at last year's town meeting. But because money was not available for the rest of the summer, Berkshire South Community Center said it had to let go of its mostly school-aged lifeguards rather than hire them for only part of the season.

A child swims recently in Lake Mansfield in Great Barrington. Residents at a special town meeting on Monday will vote on whether to approve funding for lifeguards at the lake.

Berkshire South board Chair Erica Jaffe told the Select Board and Finance Committee on June 16 that in the 20 years the community center has provided lifeguards to the lake, there haven’t been any major incidents or drownings.

“Lifeguards are a need-to-have and not a nice-to-have at Lake Mansfield,” Jaffe said.

The debate over funding lifeguards comes after multiple recent drowning deaths across the county, including last summer at Becket Quarry and Lake Buel, and two more in summer 2024.

“The one common factor," Jaffee said, "nobody was on duty to save them.”

Berkshire South Executive Director Jenise Lucey said people will swim at the beach regardless of whether there is a lifeguard on duty.

“I have already been up to the beach myself and see that it is being used to a great degree,” she said in an email to The Eagle. “Patrons are regularly out in the deep water either swimming across the lake for exercise or on paddleboards, unattended.”

Lake Mansfield in Great Barrington has no lifeguards in June because of a lack in funding. During a special town meeting on Monday, residents will vote on funding lifeguards for the remainder of the summer.

Having trained individuals nearby to ensure visitors don’t unknowingly put themselves in a dangerous position is the key to a safer beach, Lucey said.

Southfield resident Vic Albano said having lifeguards on duty gives even the most experienced swimmers peace of mind.

“My wife used to swim in the Long Island Sound, but when you come to a beach like this, you expect to have a lifeguard,” Albano said.

Jaffe said she commends past lifeguards’ ability to anticipate risks and prevent accidents before they happen, adding that the lack of incidents doesn’t mean there is “no risk at the lake.”

“I ask you all to consider the cost of a life lost,” Jaffe said. “Because, this summer, if something happens, it will not be on Berkshire South’s watch. It will be on your watch.”