by John Osborn ·
Friday, April 24, 2026
The full fiscal 2027 budget request is printed on pages 59 through 65 of the Town Meeting booklet, available on the town website. The Finance Committee’s report, which opens the booklet, offers a plain-language guide to what’s there. A few highlights:
Schools. The district’s budget grew only 1.5%, but that number understates the pressure. Nontax revenues—grants and tuition from other towns—fell 18.6%. Reimbursements from the state’s Circuit Breaker program, which helps fund special education, dropped 40%. The schools held the line on spending; the ground shifted beneath them.
Public safety. Spending edged down slightly, even though the town added a police officer. Two accounting shifts explain the difference: building inspector salaries moved to a revolving account funded by inspection fees, and the cruiser purchase moved to the capital plan. Neither change reduces services.
Debt service. Up 9.4%—the second-largest percentage increase in the budget—largely because the new Devens municipal water connection now appears as a regular annual line item.
Spending that saves money later. The Finance Committee’s report argues that some items that look optional are actually preventive. The $10,000 tree warden budget costs far less than emergency removal of a storm-damaged tree. The $600,000 set aside for the other post-employment benefits trust builds a reserve for future retiree health costs, reducing a liability that would otherwise grow year after year.
Not all of the spending voters will consider at Town Meeting comes from the current year’s tax levy. The capital fund, which pays for major equipment and infrastructure, draws on free cash—money left unspent from the prior year’s budget. The Community Preservation Fund, which supports affordable housing, historic preservation, and open space, is funded by the 3% surcharge on property taxes that residents already pay. In both cases, taxpayers have already contributed the money; Town Meeting decides how to spend it.
A glossary of municipal finance terms appears on page 18 of this issue.
The following table shows forecast revenues and expenditures for the current fiscal year (fiscal 2026) and the year to come (fiscal 2027). This view combines information from the five-year forecast found on page 11 of the Town Meeting booklet and the more detailed department-by-department spending requests found on pages 59 through 63.