Concord Finance Committee Elects Don Kupka Chair, Bids Farewell to Three Members

CONCORD — April 16, 2026 — Concord Finance Committee elects new officers and prepares its Annual Town Meeting pitch. The committee voted unanimously 12-0 to seat Don Kupka as Chair, Lyndsey Lis as Vice Chair, Pat Geyer as Clerk, Gerard Jansen as Vice Clerk, Paul Rodriguez as Guidelines Chair, and Brian Conway as Guidelines Vice Chair, effective after the April 27 Annual Town Meeting. Outgoing Chair Lois Wasoff walked members through her draft five-minute Town Meeting presentation, anchored by a 1.96 percent overall FY27 budget increase and an estimated 1.93 percent property tax increase — the first year in three that all three budgeting entities, the Town, Concord Public Schools, and the Concord-Carlisle Regional School District, held to Finance Committee guidelines. Liaison reports carried a notable financial warning: the Concord Municipal Affordable Housing Trust abandoned its planned purchase of 91B Main Street after environmental testing on an adjacent former Gulf station site detected soil contamination, leaving approximately $500,000 in ARPA funds that must be redirected before the December 31, 2026 federal deadline. The committee also noted that the $7.2 million second borrowing authorization for the Concord Middle School is not expected to be used and should be flagged for rescission at a future Town Meeting.