Finance committee flags school cost ‘monkey wrench,’ DPW building and area-wide forecast concerns

A school-committee update at the Acting Finance Committee meeting on March 11 introduced what participants called a "monkey wrench" in multi‑year budget forecasting: the school committee reported it could not keep future operating increases at the previously assumed 3.12% and said the out‑year regional assessment could rise as much as 6.33%—a level that would make an override likely in FY27 and perhaps in subsequent years.

The finance committee discussed how that school projection interacts with the town’s capital plan and a proposed new Department of Public Works (DPW) facility. The town manager presented a conservative working cost of $40,000,000 for the DPW project (versus a $37,000,000 figure used by the DPW building committee) and outlined financing assumptions including subtracting prior design spending and using $1,500,000 from the capital stabilization fund. "It is much better to be conservative in and under than to be aggressive and then have a number that exceeded what had been discussed," the town manager said.

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