Boxborough Select Board Votes to Add Board of Assessors to October Town Meeting Warrant

BOXBOROUGH — August 11, 2025 — Boxborough Select Board votes to bring Board of Assessors question to October town meeting. Acting Chair Michael Johns led the four-member quorum, which voted 4-0 to add a placeholder warrant article establishing a Board of Assessors to the October special town meeting warrant — a structural change not seen in the town since 1985. Finance Committee Chair Tony Newton presented data showing Boxborough's overlay reserve of roughly $1.5 million represents 1.86 percent of the tax levy annually, more than double the statewide average of 0.85 percent, and that a $120,000 surplus has accumulated in the revaluation appropriation account. The board also voted 4-0 to adopt a second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide ban for town-owned land, removing an emergency-use exception after board member Sam Anderson reported that a similar provision in the town of Newbury's policy had been used to authorize open-ended rodenticide use at that town's police station. The board closed the October special town meeting warrant effective August 11, with placeholder articles including MBTA Communities Act zoning, up to three public safety use zoning articles, up to four fire station sense-of-the-meeting votes, and the Board of Assessors article.