Town staff: warrant article would appropriate $480,000 to cover $1.18M 2025 underbilling

A town staff member explained a warrant article that would move money into the town's stabilization fund to cover an underbilling of property taxes.

"In fiscal year 2025, the town under billed 1.18 million in taxes due to a formula error in an Excel spreadsheet," the staff member said, identifying the cause of the shortfall. The staff member added that "the state has required that the town collect 700,000 of that under billed amount in fiscal year 2026," and that the town must appropriate the remaining $480,000 from available sources.

The staff member said the funding subject to the article "will become part of our certified free cash to be re-deposited into stabilization this fall," describing the administrative treatment of the money. The staff member also cautioned that the funding "cannot be spent by the town because it does not have a corresponding authorization from Town Meeting," and described the warrant article as "an accounting mechanism to show the Department of Revenue that the town does in fact have the money necessary to cover that under billing."

The explanation makes clear that the article is intended to document and reserve local funds to satisfy the state's collection requirement and to ensure the money appears in certified free cash; any actual spending of those funds would require a separate vote at Town Meeting. The warrant article was presented for consideration as part of the town's annual warrant; no formal vote was recorded in the provided transcript.