Boxborough Finance Committee corrects FY26 budget total to $29.3 million after rounding error

BOXBOROUGH -- April 1, 2025, Boxborough Finance Committee re-votes $29.3 million FY26 budget after catching a one-dollar rounding error. The committee unanimously approved a corrected operating budget of $29,313,132, split between $23,626,667 in non-salary costs and $5,686,465 in salary, after Chair Tony Newton identified that a mosquito-spraying figure in the Board of Health line had been rounded down and did not carry properly into the total. The bulk of the April 1 meeting was consumed by review of a town meeting budget presentation centering on debt, with members flagging what they believe is an error in Hilltop Securities' debt-service projections: a $1.2 million fire engine bond appears amortized over 20 years rather than the standard 10, inflating a projected FY27-28 debt-service spike. The committee also warned publicly that Boxborough is operating within roughly $900,000 of its Proposition 2.5 levy ceiling, new growth has been stagnant, and an operational override is "most likely" needed as early as FY27. Members aired ongoing frustration with ClearGov budget software, purchased for roughly $15,000 upfront, calling its export function inconsistent and error-prone, with an escalation call to the vendor's product owner set for the following day.