Town administrator gives finance update; audit of Chapter 61 lands flags roughly $183,000 in foregone tax value

Sean, the town administrator, provided the board an update on fiscal year 2026 and the FY27 budget process, saying the town’s annual appropriation is roughly $11.9 million and that staff are reconciling multiple years of financial records to close out FY24 and FY25 and prepare a FY27 draft.

He told the board there are near‑term pressures: “close to 20 lines that are running deficits” and several line‑item overages that require reconciliation and possible end‑of‑year adjustments. Sean said he expects a draft FY27 budget to be ready for the board soon and urged greater line‑item discipline using a 0‑based format to improve transparency.

On property tax matters, staff reported an audit of Chapter 61/61A/61B properties to reconcile the town’s chapter tracking database with the assessing software. The audit identified roughly a dozen properties with incorrect Chapter status in one database; updating the records changed the assessed values used for taxation calculations. The town administrator reported that, for the properties discussed, the total assessed value in Chapter programs was about $21.27 million; taxing those properties at full residential rates rather than Chapter discounts would produce approximately $237,000 in tax revenue, whereas after Chapter treatment the town received about $54,000 — a difference of roughly $183,000 in foregone tax value for the parcels discussed.

Staff said they will continue the audit work, provide a reconciled list to the board, and track annual Chapter applications so properties that fail to reapply are taxed at regular rates in future fiscal years.

Next steps: staff will finalize the FY27 draft budget, continue reconciliation and present specific line‑item proposals to the board; the Chapter 61 audit will be completed and a revenue impact summary returned to the board.