Boxborough Finance Committee Finds FY27 Budget Within Levy Limit, Barely

BOXBOROUGH — April 14, 2026 — Boxborough Finance Committee finds FY27 budget within the levy limit but flags unresolved audit deficits and a likely FY28 override. At the April 14 meeting, Chair Tony Newton walked members through a draft town meeting budget presentation showing the total operating budget rising 5.5 percent while the levy increases only 3.2 percent — to a projected $28.975 million against a maximum allowable levy of $29.946 million — a margin achieved by drawing $1.7 million in free cash, revising local receipts estimates upward to $9 million, and benefiting from the assessor declining to draw on the overlay reserve fund. The committee identified a $60,000 permanent deficit in police detail accounts that cannot be addressed at the May 19 Annual Town Meeting because the warrant is locked, leaving a special town meeting or tax recapitulation as the only options before the June 30 fiscal year-end. Members warned that fire station debt service of approximately $1.8 million per year beginning in FY28 — for a project estimated at roughly $30 million — and rising regional dispatch costs make an operational override in the next budget cycle increasingly likely.