Town Manager says reported $6.6 million budget gap has been trimmed; balanced FY27 proposal expected in April

Town Manager Michael Borg responded to recent coverage that described a $6.6 million shortfall in the FY26 budget process and outlined how the administration is narrowing requests to produce a balanced budget proposal for the council in April.

Borg described the process: departments submit unconstrained funding requests; the administration then trims those requests to match realistic revenue expectations. "So even though there's a gap when we total it all up between what we're going to estimate revenues at and what the departments asked and that 6.6 million we go back and we apply all right now we have to trim some of this back," he said. "We've already worked our way down off of that $6.6 million into a number where we're very comfortable and we're just fine‑tuning it now."

He said the town finished the previous fiscal year with about $6 million in free cash and emphasized conservative budgeting to avoid owing funds back to the Commonwealth. Borg noted that local receipts — fees and taxes such as meals, lodging, motor vehicle excise and PILOT payments — have grown from roughly $6 million to nearly $10 million over five years, which helps the town’s revenue picture but still requires prudent forecasting.

On the mechanics of taxation, Borg described 'levy capacity' under Proposition 2½ and said communities can draw on unused levy capacity in later years but that the administration prefers a cautious approach to budgeting to avoid future shortfalls.

Borg also explained that when local receipts change significantly the Commonwealth asks the town to explain the cause as part of year‑end closeouts, reinforcing his point that the administration budgets conservatively rather than assuming optimistic revenue outcomes.

What's next: Borg said the administration will present a balanced FY27 budget proposal to the council in April after final calculations are complete.