Boxborough Finance Committee unanimously backs fire station design funding article

BOXBOROUGH -- March 25, 2025, Boxborough Finance Committee votes 6-0 to advance $2.6 million fire station design article to Town Meeting. The committee approved the Article 2 recommendation Tuesday after working through a series of discrepancies in debt-service projections provided by bonding firm Hilltop Securities, including a sharp FY28 payment spike traced to equal-principal amortization that members said would "create all kinds of angst at town meeting." The panel agreed to ask Hilltop for revised figures consolidating the design bond anticipatory note and an anticipated $30 million construction bond into a single $32 million obligation. Finance Director Hongwa Lee confirmed the BAN structure means no direct interest cost in FY26, with roughly $108,000 in interest due in FY27. The committee also approved the FY26 operating budget at $29,295,131, a 4.32 percent increase, after reconciling a $83,890 cherry sheet double-count in the ClearGov export, and deferred recommendations on Articles 6, 7, and 8 covering unfinished collective bargaining agreements to Town Meeting. Members flagged that the fire station construction bond, expected to come before voters at a future Town Meeting, would add an estimated $950 to $1,000 annually to the tax bill for a home valued around $987,000 as a debt exclusion.