Snow removal, legal storms flooded budget lines with red ink

This winter’s snow is long gone. Its mark on the town’s finances remained for months in the form of a nearly $700,000 deficit. 

Year-end deficits in individual line items aren’t unheard of, and officials had money elsewhere in their budget to close the gap ahead of the 2026 fiscal year’s end on June 30. 

The town overshot its legal budget by nearly 50%, and staff have tweaked plans in hopes of avoiding a repeat.

“This is an anomaly year,” Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Barrett said in discussing snow-removal spending.

The Boston area racked up nearly 63 inches of snow this past winter, according to the National Weather Service. That meant 2025-26 had the highest accumulation totals since 2015’s infamous “Snowmageddon.”

Acton budgeted $655,500 for winter maintenance. Officials spent more than double that, leaving the line item more than $680,000 in the red. 

Legal bills

The legal services budget started the week of June 15 with a $185,182 gap, per a tracking document filed with the Finance Committee. 

Town Manager Kerry Lafleur cited a developer’s lawsuit over a rejected application to build a house on Lowell Road as one cost. Budget writers didn’t expect the case to go to trial, Lafleur told FinCom, but it did. (A judge had yet to rule as of June 22.)

Officials dealt with two separate lawsuits involving accessory dwelling unit (ADU) proposals, Lafleur said. She also pointed to a “very lengthy negotiation” with the firefighters’ union that went to arbitration.

Acton’s fight for public access along Estabrook Trail keeps costing money — even though the state’s high court ruled in the town’s favor last year. “Parties to that case” still file requests that “kind of bleed into things” that were part of the nearly decade-long litigation, Lafleur said.

Real estate matters, including the Lowell Road case, ADUs, Estabrook matters, and a complaint from community members over dirt piles on town land near the Acton rotary accounted for roughly 37% of legal spending, Barrett showed in a Monday Select Board presentation.

Acton could face legal bills related to MCI-Acton prison redevelopment over the next year. Officials hope to cover some costs with a tranche of state funding but still increased their fiscal 2027 legal allocation to $450,000 from $400,000.

The town racked up lawyers’ fees before formally firing ex-Chief Financial Officer Anthony Ansaldi last year, Lafleur told The Bridge. Ansaldi has since sued the town and Lafleur individually. The case continues, but Lafleur said insurance covers anything related to that litigation.

State aid estimate

Although it overspent in a few areas, Acton carried surpluses through fiscal ’26 partly thanks to job vacancies. Barrett and Lafleur previewed plans with FinCom this month to plug gaps by shuffling excess funding. 

Gov. Maura Healey on June 12 signed a supplemental budget that included $80 million in relief for communities hit by this year’s snow barrage. Acton could get roughly $280,000, Lafleur told The Bridge.

The town can’t use this kind of award directly to offset deficits, however, Lafleur said, and Acton is under the gun to close its gaps by July 15.

Any state aid will go into the town’s miscellaneous revenue, Lafleur said, and might increase Acton’s free cash funds.

FinCom and the Select Board on Monday both approved transfers within the town budget to fix legal and winter maintenance gaps and a roughly $34,000 retirement account deficit.