Boxborough Finance Committee Approves Revised $27.99 Million FY25 Budget

BOXBOROUGH -- March 26, 2024, Boxborough Finance Committee corrects live spreadsheet errors and approves a revised $27,996,663 FY25 operating budget. Meeting on March 26, the committee spent much of the evening auditing the town's budget summary spreadsheet cell by cell, discovering that dispatch salary and expense figures had been pulling from incorrect formula cells, which had omitted $71,493 in FY25 dispatch costs and suppressed the FY24 comparison figure. The correction changed the stated year-over-year increase from 9.6 percent to 7.9 percent and added roughly $71,000 to the previously approved total of $27,925,170. The committee also re-voted Budget 182 (Economic Development) at $4,250 after a discrepancy with the minutes was found, with one member abstaining. The ABRSD assessment was confirmed at $15,960,274, including a $1,080,560 capital component and a $14,879,714 operating component, following a unanimous regional school committee vote the prior week. On the fire station professional services article, Town Administrator Mike Giaimo reported that the Housing Trust, Housing Board, and Select Board representatives have unanimously agreed to a $1.2 million purchase price for the Stowe Road parcel, but recommended delaying the land-purchase vote to a fall Special Town Meeting; the $500,000 OPM and design appropriation remains on the Annual Town Meeting warrant. The excess levy capacity after the corrected budget stands at an estimated $863,541.