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Spring Town Meeting Recap posted
2025 SPRING ANNUAL TOWN MEETING
2025 SPRING ANNUAL TOWN MEETING
MAY 19, 2025
The 2025 Annual Spring Town Meeting included 17 Articles, 13 of which passed, 1 failed (Article #3 Zoning Recodification), and 3 lost for lack of a motion.
The Special Town Meeting included 9 articles, 4 of which passed, 1 failed (Article #9 Elm Street water/sewer), and 4 lost for lack of motion.
Details can be found in the full list of articles below. Clicking on the Article Name link will open the Video to that timecode.
ANNUAL SPRING TOWN MEETING ARTICLES
ANNUAL SPRING TOWN MEETING ARTICLES
SPECIAL TOWN MEETING ARTICLES
SPECIAL TOWN MEETING ARTICLES
Spring Annual Town Meeting Warrant (includes Special Town Meeting) (pdf)
ADDITIONAL DETAILS ON FY26 BUDGET
ADDITIONAL DETAILS ON FY26 BUDGET
ARTICLE #8 - FY26 OPERATING BUDGET
ARTICLE #8 - FY26 OPERATING BUDGET
How does the town determine its revenue for the year?
The budget created in the spring is based on some knowns and some unknowns:
Some known values:
Base Tax levy limit for property taxes (for FY26 that is $48.4M)
Max 2 1/2 Increment (for FY26 that is $1.2M)
Existing Debt Exclusion revenue (for FY26 that is $3.7M)
But there are many unknowns which need to be estimated:
New Growth - for FY26 that is estimated to be $700k; last year's final new growth based on new development was $1.6M)
Local Aid (aka State Aid) - this isn't final until July when the governor signs but there are two estimates right now both around $18.5M (based on House budget and Senate budget). Note: The town does not receive all of this $18.5M to spend on our budget. There are unappropriated expenditures (for FY26 about $3.9M) that are assessments to the town that reduce the amount, like School Choice/Charter Schools, and Offsets that go directly to certain departments without appropriation (like Public Library and School Choice to the School system). Refer to the Revenue and Expenditures document for the details.
Local Receipts - includes things like Vehicle Excise Tax, etc. (Total Local Receipts is currently estimated to be $5.0M which is about $496k more than last year's final local receipts)
Where does the rest of the money from the budget come from?
Some of the funding of the budget comes from Fund Transfers. The Town Manager and Finance Committee make recommendations on what source of funds should be used towards the budget:
Free Cash (certified from last year) - the target is to generate about 3-5% of the budget as free cash, which is a combination of additional revenue beyond budgeted estimates and lower spend compared to what was budgeted. For FY26, $1.8M is planned to be used. Last year, $2.0M of free cash was used towards the budget ($1.2M as of last spring and by the end of the year $2.0M of Free Cash was used towards FY25.)
Stabilization - last year we did not use any Stabilization money towards the budget. This year, $500k is being used
Hicks Fund - used for cemetery expenses - $280k is approved by Trustees to use, an increase of $80k above what has been approved in prior years.
Ambulance Receipts - $1.228M is planned to be used, which is $228k more than last year.
Fund transfers from Sewer Receipts, Water Reimbursement, Dog Fund, Title 5 Septic Betterments, Wetlands Protection and Debt Exclusion Premium are also used towards the budget each year
What is the process?
Each spring, based on anticipated revenue and budget requests, the Town Manager recommends a budget and then the Finance Committee reviews the budget line by line to make their recommendations. Ultimately, Town Meeting voters approve the budget. Typically, further revisions are made at the Fall Town Meeting to supplement the budget or make revisions once some of previously estimated values are known and free cash is certified.
What are some of the notable areas for the FY26 Budget?
For FY26, the department's requested budgets totaled $79.2M, a 6.2% increase over FY25. The Town Manager recommended a budget of $77.5M, a 3.9% increase over FY25. Finance Committee ultimately recommended a budget of $78.2M, a 4.8% increase over FY25.
Some notable discussion areas:
Two annual expenses that have historically been funded through separate articles have been moved into the standard budget, $31k for Tree Services (in the Highway Department) and $110k for the Assessors.
A new Assistant Human Services/Council on Aging Director position has been added to the Council on Aging department.
Highway department is restoring one position that was vacant last year. This was funded by incremental funding of $80k from the Hicks Fund. There is also an additional $10k added to Highway Department budget for Repairs to Private Ways, for roads like King Philip Rd.
Norton Public Schools was requesting a 4.96% increase ($696k) over FY25 for level services. $500k is being used from stabilization fund to fund some of this gap, with the intent to return $500k to stabilization from free cash in the fall.
A part-time position has been eliminated in the Board of Health Department and a part-time position (slightly lower salary) added to Treasurer/Collector Department.
An additional $228k (for a total of $1.228M) will be used from the Ambulance Reserve Fund towards Fire Department.
If you're curious why the Municipal Building Maintenance decreased significantly this year while the Fire Department Charges and Expenditures increased, it is because electric, gas, maintenance of building moved to the Fire Department budget with the opening of the new Town Hall.
What are some gaps?
Although the changes recommended by Finance Committee bring the budget closer to the departmental requests and level services, some gaps still exist that may require budget supplements in the fall, based on available free cash. Free Cash is not expected to be $6M like it was last year. IF Free cash is in the typical $2.5-4M range which is the best practice for a town of our size, based on the discussion held thus far, that Free Cash would potentially be put towards things like:
Police Department overtime - unlike the Fire Department which was boosted by Ambulance Fund, Police overtime is still short about $107k.
The Reserve Fund was only funded to $100k and some budgets like Legal Services were underfunded based on typical average expenses.
$500k would be added back to the Stabilization Fund to restore it from the money used towards budget.
An amount of money would be used towards funding the Capital Improvements fund.
An amount of that Free Cash would be used to carry into the next year. This year, $1.8M of Free cash is being used towards this FY26 budget thus far.
Also, the Superintendent of Norton Public Schools indicated that with the budget short now only $196k of the level services (with the $500k from stabilization), major cuts should be able to be avoided, however it is also worth noting that even the NPS level services budget did not include some priority areas that remain unfunded.
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