Dispatch deal, legal expenses among edits as FY27 budget solidifies

Acton’s 2027 fiscal year budget is nearing its final form.

As they slash most wish list items, officials are adding funding for legal fees and accommodating raises for emergency dispatchers in their $65.8 million spending package.

Speaking to The Acton Bridge, Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Barrett called this a “responsible” plan that preserves town services but meets a recommended 2.5% cap on town budget increases from fiscal ’26.  More than two years after an arrangement with Acton fell through, leaders have also opened new talks about a multitown 911 program.

A ‘hosted’ model 

Town brass are pulling emergency dispatchers into their own department, separate from police and fire. December projections reserved $772,065 for this arrangement. 

Since then, the town has settled a new contract with its dispatchers union. Officials added $100,000 to their budget for per-diem payments to ensure every shift has two dispatchers. They also added an overtime line item. 

The new budget includes just under $1.1 million for the dispatch department.

Broader plans have been a topic of discussion in recent years. Leaders are now warm to a “hosted” model in which Acton runs its own dispatch but accepts payments to cover neighboring towns. 

Town Manager Kerry Lafleur has been in touch with leaders in Lincoln and one other town, she told The Bridge. Lincoln is interested, Lafleur said. Conversations are in “the beginning stages” in the second town; Lafleur said “it would be premature” to identify that community.

This program wouldn’t launch immediately, but officials could run a grant-funded feasibility study in fiscal ’27. Acton could be ready to start accepting outside clients in fiscal ’28 or ’29, Lafleur said.

The prospect of regional deals was one reason officials created a separate department, Barrett said. 

“If that potential comes through,” Barrett told The Bridge, “it’s a revenue source.”

Legal fees

Among other highlights from the latest budget:

• The town would add a public safety business manager but offset that cost by cutting a vacant risk and compliance position. 
• It wouldn’t be a new hire, but leaders want $40,000 for the Town Clerk’s office to help cover a surge in public records requests. 
• Fiscal ’27 begins July 1, 2026, and will bring an extra $70,000 in election costs due to this year’s congressional midterms and gubernatorial election.

Officials are adding $50,000 for legal expenses. Projects ranging from the town’s ongoing roadway overhaul to MCI-Acton master planning can rack up costs. Leaders cited this as one reason for the spending spike. 

Cutting it close 

Gov. Maura Healey recently noted a proposed 4.4% increase in state aid to municipalities. Acton expects only a 3.15% bump due to decreasing veterans’ benefits. “It’s not that much,” Lafleur told The Bridge when asked about the increase. 

Finance watchdogs remain wary of a shrinking gap between what Acton spends and its maximum possible revenue in a given year. If the town burns through its tax levy, it might have to ask voters to accept a property tax hike above the state’s 2.5% annual limit.

Total fiscal ’27 plans would spend 99.4% of what the town could collect in taxes and fees.

“How close are you going to get?” Finance Committee Clerk Karlen Reed asked last week.

FinCom’s Eric Dahlberg cited recent Bridge reporting that two of four town sidewalk plows were down for maintenance during last month’s mammoth snowstorm. Acton has also had trouble finding contractors to help with snow removal this year, Public Works Director Alan Cathcart said.

“I really want to understand if town leadership is confident that Public Works is resourced appropriately in light of what sound like these day-to-day challenges,” and larger multiyear projects, Dahlberg said.

Town and school budgets will go before Town Meeting for approval in the spring. The meeting is set to begin April 27.