Boxborough Finance Committee Reviews FY26 Budget, Eyes Unknown Fire Station Design Cost

BOXBOROUGH -- January 7, 2025, Boxborough Finance Committee reviews FY26 budget model showing $27.5 million projected levy against a $29.1 million maximum, with fire station design costs still unknown. Meeting January 7, Finance Committee Chair Tony Newton and Town Administrator Mike Johns presented a model showing total expenditures near $29.5 million, with free cash revised down to $3.1 million after a $100,000 state accounting adjustment. Town Planner Alec Way briefed the committee on the Taylor Farm Road special town meeting article, explaining that a developer was directed by a prior select board to pursue additional home construction that was legally impossible under existing planning conditions, a town error the committee said must be explicitly memorialized in the warrant article language to avoid setting precedent. Member John Corner warned that Acton-Boxborough Regional School District faces a $2 million to $3 million structural deficit heading into FY26, with the superintendent's reform timeline running to "years" rather than months, a posture that left committee members pressing for a formal joint meeting with school committee representatives before the next budget cycle begins.