Littleton Boards Advance $59.6 Million FY25 Budget, New School Stabilization Fund

LITTLETON -- April 2, 2024, Littleton's Finance Committee and Select Board jointly advanced a $59.6 million FY25 operating budget and cleared most of the spring town meeting warrant at an April 2 joint session. The budget, $58,831,276 to raise and appropriate plus a $794,543 fund balance transfer, arrived in the black by $54,186 and includes three new firefighters and one new police officer. Finance Committee Chair Steve warned residents that sewer debt service will climb to roughly $1.7 million in FY26 and predicted the fiscal squeeze will last four to five years until additional properties connect to the new sewer system; Water and Sewer General Manager Nick Lala confirmed that FY25 remains "comparable to the next two" years in cost. The boards also created a school building stabilization fund by transferring $1,180,000 from free cash, passed a community preservation budget of $287,136, and voted to recommend withdrawing from the regional NESWBOA boards-of-health consortium effective FY26. Two articles remained unresolved: the purchase of the Webster property, held pending a May 1 appraisal, and the MBTA Communities zoning bylaw, which the Planning Board was expected to finalize at an April 4 meeting ahead of an April 8 print deadline.