Acton Finance Committee Targets 3 Percent Budget, Warns of Future Override Risk

ACTON — January 14, 2025 — Acton Finance Committee opens FY2026 budget review with a stark warning about a structural spending gap. The committee's first look at the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget, presented to the Acton Local Government group January 13, found total spending projected to rise 4.65 percent — the town's operating line alone at 4.9 percent — against estimated revenue growth of just 2.13 percent under Proposition 2 and a half. Chair Steve Noone told members the gap points toward another override if not corrected, calling it "absolutely wrong to come back the year after an override that only barely passed by the skin of its teeth" with an operating number revenue cannot support. The committee is holding to a 3 percent budget guidance target, with the next Acton Local Government session set for February 11. Member Christy Donahue reported that the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District's Elementary Budget Task Force completed work in December, targeting roughly $1 million in structural savings through shared specialist staffing and a 25 to 50 percent reduction in classroom assistants — changes Donahue said have bent the school's long-term cost curve in line with what the Finance Committee asked for during last year's override deliberations.