Westborough finance committee reviews FY27 budget book, levy capacity and capital priorities ahead of budget summit

Town Manager Christie gave the WestPRO Advisory Finance Committee an overview of the FY27 budget book and walked members through the key pages they should review before the budget summit and the select board public hearing.

Christie directed members to the budget summary and highlights (early pages), and explained ‘‘excess levy capacity is the amount of money that we could levy, but we don't,’’ noting that using or not using excess levy capacity affects whether an override would be needed under Proposition 2½. She said the town is taking a conservative approach to revenue estimates and that the tax rate will be set later in the year when more current data — particularly excise-tax receipts in March — are available.

The budget document flags several notable items: a recommendation to convert a 32-hour Council on Aging volunteer coordinator position to 40 hours; creation of a separate cable/Westflow TV enterprise fund; inclusion of Norfolk County Agricultural High School assessments in the current budget; and a capital-improvement plan that groups like items thematically rather than the older a–p sequence. Christie also noted a minor typo in the printed books that will be corrected online.

On employee benefits and long-term liabilities, Christie reviewed the town’s OPEB schedule and the targets the town is pursuing. "We're still working towards that 1,100,000.0," she said; for FY27 the budget includes $800,000 and the town plans to add $200,000 from free cash this year, with the goal of reaching the $1.1 million target through the budget by FY29.

Members asked for additional analytic views: dollar-change and percentage-change tables that also show each line item’s contribution to overall budget movement, and comparative measures such as spending per capita and per pupil versus benchmark communities. Christie agreed to provide additional charts and said the finance office can supply the budget table in Excel to make those comparisons easier.

On capital planning, the capital-expenditure planning committee reported that its slate of recommended capital items would likely draw roughly $1.4M–$1.8M from free cash in this cycle, with some large items — including a police mobile command vehicle — under discussion for partial outside funding from grants or foundations. The library construction project remains on schedule with an expected move-in in late summer or early fall, and the select board will hold a public hearing on the budget before the full budget summit where department heads will present.