North Middlesex committee adopts FY2027 budgets, authorizes $2.75M from reserve to lower town assessments

The North Middlesex Regional School Committee voted April 29 to adopt fiscal year 2027 budgets and to authorize the use of $2,750,000 from the district's excess-and-deficiency (E&D) reserve to offset the operational budget and lower assessments for member towns.

The vote followed nearly two hours of discussion and written public comment. Robin Ivy, the committee secretary, read three letters submitted in advance urging the committee either to distribute unexpected revenues to towns now or to pause action until final state budget figures were known. One of the letters recommended using newly available state aid (cited as about $260,000 in the submission) together with a Valley Collaborative tuition refund to reduce town assessments rather than retaining the money in district reserves.

Why it matters: Committee members debated whether to return one-time funds to towns ahead of town meetings, or to hold the money in district reserves to protect staffing and operations. Supporters said the district had an unusual one-time balance and should relieve municipal budgets; opponents warned some of the returned…