Millis Finance Committee Advances $48.2 Million FY27 Budget Toward May Town Meeting

PEPPERELL — April 8, 2026 — Millis Finance Committee advances $48.2 million FY27 budget and full warrant ahead of May Town Meeting. The committee met April 8 to review a proposed budget of $48,200,583 — a 3.5 percent increase for both municipal and school spending — with Town Administrator Mike Krohn and Finance Director Jody warning that new growth is projected at only $350,000, state aid is essentially flat, and 92.85 percent of the tax levy falls on residential properties. The meeting's most consequential fiscal development was confirmation that the town will borrow an initial $6 million this May as the first tranche of the voter-approved $125 million middle school and high school renovation, generating an estimated $240,000 interest-only payment in FY27. The committee also reviewed a $200,000 Community Preservation Committee grant to Metro West Collaborative for seed funding on a 48-unit, approximately $28 million affordable housing project at 1178 Main Street, and a DEP-mandated $1.2 million water meter replacement program requiring a two-thirds town meeting supermajority. Outgoing DPW Director Jim McKay, presenting for the final time, noted that PFAS litigation settlements have yielded more than $1.3 million in funds to offset future treatment plant costs, and that the town has remained ahead of regional peers on water treatment compliance throughout his 20-year tenure.