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Northborough finance director outlines FY28 outlook, warns of roughly $1.8 million gap under modest assumptions
Summary
Finance Director Jason Little presented preliminary FY28 budget models on July 15 showing a potential $1.8–$1.85 million gap under assumptions including a 3% operating increase; committee members urged worst-/best-case modeling and closer salary/headcount analysis.
Finance Director Jason Little presented preliminary FY28 budget projections to the Town of Northborough Appropriations Committee on July 15 and warned the models show a significant planning gap under modest operating-increase assumptions.
Jason Little said the town is still finalizing figures but used a working assumption of roughly 3% for operating increases in town departments and showed a multi‑year projection that produced an approximate $1.8 million to $1.85 million budget gap. "If everything else remains the same, we'll have $482,000 of unused levy capacity," Little said, and the model still shows a roughly $1.8 million shortfall under the applied assumptions.
Little described components driving near‑term pressures: a cluster of employee benefit and payroll-tax lines that "added up to $587,000," the town's employer Medicare share (1.45% of payroll), and unusually high snow-and-ice spending this year (about $888,000). He also said a state supplemental budget provided about $215,000 this cycle, which helped reduce the pressure but did not eliminate the projected deficit.
Committee members pressed for more granular scenarios. Terry Halloran argued for a bottoms-up, headcount-based exercise and said a 3% across-the-board assumption likely understates contractual salary increases; "I don't think 3% is reflective of what you're really going to get," Halloran said. George Bridal urged setting a practical target rather than a "level funding" benchmark and recommended best-case/worst-case modeling to guide policy decisions.
Little said the administration will refine the model and expects updated assumptions before fall meetings: he noted the financial-planning committee is developing a project-rating scheme and the select board plans further discussion on tax-classification timing. He recommended additional departmental inputs and a return to the committee with updated figures.
The discussion closed with no formal votes on FY28 assumptions; the committee approved the year‑end transfers earlier in the meeting and adjourned.
