New budget: Sustainability chief out, Sunday library hours stay

The Town Manager’s final recommendation for the Fiscal Year 2026 budget would retain Sunday library hours but cut Acton’s sustainability director position.

The revised plan also pares back a proposed fire department overtime budget cut that could have affected minimum shift staffing.

Town Manager Kerry Lafleur confirmed the library and fire department developments but said in a statement that the process still required “difficult choices.” 

With sustainability director Eric Simms set to leave June 30, supporters of the town’s climate goals are raising concerns. 

Lafleur said officials made the sustainability cut “based solely on financial constraints” and Simms’ layoff “in no way reflects” his performance.

Lafleur said Deputy Town Manager Megan Zammuto and other Town Manager’s Office personnel will take on Simms’ work. Among other tasks, she said, they will help update Acton’s Climate Action Plan. 

Simms said he did not have anything to add when reached by email. The budget must pass at Town Meeting to take effect.

Other reductions

Officials faced heightened pressure to slow the town’s spending after the Finance Committee recommended capping the increase between the Fiscal ’25 and ’26 budgets at 2.85%. 

Though she promised to meet the guideline, Lafleur said staff had to trim $600,000 from a level-service budget. 

Chief financial officer Anthony Ansaldi detailed an initial plan on February 10 that would have closed the Acton Free Public Library on Sundays year-round. 

Lafleur later backed off but said staffing cuts remained on the table.

Beyond Simms’ position, the town will trim 3.74 full-time equivalent roles. In a Monday presentation to the Select Board, Lafleur said staff will make some cuts by eliminating a vacant job and some roles left empty after voluntary transfers. 

The fire department will still face an overtime reduction and it may have to occasionally lower staffing. But Lafleur said those instances won’t be as frequent as initially expected.

Other cuts include a $123,615 reduction in facilities maintenance costs and a $54,584 trim in office supply spending.

Town Meeting votes

Simms came to Acton in 2022, five years after a 2017 Town Meeting vote to create the sustainability director position. Voters weighed in again last year when they declared a “climate emergency” and upped Acton’s energy goals. 

In an interview with The Acton Bridge, Climate Action Committee co-chair Brad Hubbard-Nelson worried that sustainability work will lag. “It’s hard to make progress when [the work] is spread among different departments,” he said.

Select Board chair Mary Hartman spoke at a March 19 meeting with other board and committee chairs, saying, “I don’t want anyone to interpret this as the town retreating from our climate action plan.” 

Despite assurances, Hubbard-Nelson’s fellow CAC co-chair Janet Miller said members are concerned.

In an interview, Miller said CAC members are “very disappointed” to see Simms go.