Boxborough Finance Committee Questions Unannounced Police Promotion Plan at Budget Meeting

BOXBOROUGH -- January 20, 2026, Boxborough Finance Committee questions unannounced police promotion plan and works to reconcile FY27 budget models. The five-member committee, chaired by Tony Newton, voted 5-0 to approve corrected January 13 minutes and spent the bulk of its January 20 session debating a police chief proposal, first disclosed after Budget Saturday, to create a second lieutenant position by promoting from within, keeping total departmental headcount at 13. Members Maria Neyland and Newton said past rank additions had consistently gone before town meeting and pressed Town Administrator Mike Johns for detailed salary and compensation data before the chief's scheduled Finance Committee appearance January 21. On the FY27 budget models, the Finance Committee and the Town Administrator's office reconciled their parallel models to within roughly $4,000 after aligning assumptions, including $150,000 in new growth and $650,000 in excluded debt, then agreed on provisional revenue figures of $2 million in local receipts and $400,000 in state aid pending Massachusetts Municipal Association projections expected later that week. School Committee liaison Liz Fowlks reported the proposed ABRSD Boxborough assessment for FY27 at $17,734,103, a 5.57 percent increase, with the school committee set to vote on reorganization structure, enrollment distribution, and a school calendar change on January 22.