North Reading Fire Department Seeks Four Firefighters in $626,000 Budget Request

NORTH READING — March 9, 2026 — North Reading Select Board heard fiscal year 2027 budget requests from police, fire, emergency management, and public works totaling millions against a roughly $760,000 structural deficit. Fire Deputy Chief Matt Parisi, presenting on behalf of Chief Don Statz, requested $5,707,964 — a 12.3 percent increase — anchored by a $348,550 ask to hire four firefighters and complete a three-cycle staffing plan that began in fiscal year 2024; Board Chair Kevin O'Leary called it "a high priority," while Town Administrator Kathryn Gilberto warned "there will be cuts elsewhere." Police Chief James Zimmerman requested $5,130,156, a 7.6 percent rise that includes $83,014 to restore a full-time school resource officer and $74,944 to absorb a coordinator position when the town's ten-year federal Drug Free Communities grant expires September 30, 2026. On the public works side, a pending sanitation contract could push the placeholder collection budget to more than $2 million — nearly double the current year — and DPW Director Joe Parisi flagged a snow and ice deficit already exceeding $577,000 against a $175,000 annual appropriation, with a 12 percent water rate increase projected for fiscal year 2027 under North Reading's inter-municipal agreement with Andover.