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Legal budget steady; counsel flags major upcoming water agreement and recalls past project costs
Summary
The town's legal team described a FY27 $295,000 budget and said past spending rose for multi-year projects (regional sewer agreement and data-center negotiations); counsel signaled a long-term (decades-long) water agreement negotiation led by the utility commission will require extensive review.
The town attorney presented a legal FY27 request of $295,000 and explained historical spending spikes tied to major projects. He said two recent large efforts — negotiating a regional sewer agreement and a multi-month negotiation with a data center over a host-fee arrangement — drove elevated legal expenses in prior years.
Asked about coming work, counsel identified a potential major negotiation over a long-term water agreement being led by the Utility Commission. He described the precedent of long-term contracts for water security and noted any recommended contract will be presented to the Board of Selectmen, Board of Finance and the RTM for approval because of its long-term financial impact.
Board members asked for project-level accounting so the town can see where prior legal resources were spent. Counsel and board members agreed to provide more detailed records on prior-project legal expense to improve transparency for future budgeting.
The board approved the legal FY27 budget by voice vote.
