Boxborough Finance Committee Begins Planning for Possible $5 Million Override Vote

BOXBOROUGH -- July 15, 2025, Boxborough Finance Committee opens override planning and flags $4,000-per-day fire station cost. The committee, meeting July 15 with new member Michelle Ryan, heard a preliminary levy model from Chair Tony Newton projecting the town will exceed its Proposition 2½ levy limit as early as FY2027, with a $5 million override scenario modeled to provide roughly 10 years of fiscal runway, a figure Newton called "a first pass" requiring further refinement with school district data. Town Administrator Mike Johns reported FY2025 will return "in excess of $500,000" to free cash, down from roughly $1.5 million in recent years, driven by personnel turnover savings, $200,000 in health insurance underspending, and lower fuel and utility costs. On the assessor front, Newton said he will present a proposal to the Select Board on July 28 to establish a three-member Board of Assessors, a governance structure Boxborough abolished in 1985, and to pause the annual $30,000 revaluation warrant article, which has accumulated an unspent balance of $120,000. A committee member on the fire station building committee warned that construction cost escalation is running at "$4,000 a day" and that the preferred site at 72 Stow Road still requires a zoning change the Planning Board was scheduled to take up in a special meeting the following evening. Newton and John Connor were re-elected chair and vice chair, respectively, in unanimous votes.