Littleton Select Board Approves Balanced FY25 Budget After Closing $3.4 Million Deficit

LITTLETON — January 8, 2024 — Littleton Select Board and Finance Committee receive a balanced but fragile $74.2 million FY25 budget. Town Administrator James Duggan and Finance Director Ryan Ahearn presented the proposed fiscal year 2025 operating budget of $74,165,732 and a capital request of $1,605,436 in free cash at a January 8 joint session, closing an initial $3.4 million deficit through a combination of ARPA deployment, reduced OPEB contributions, and higher local receipt projections. Finance Committee Chairman Steve Venuti called a $210,000 projected Chapter 70 school aid increase "irresponsible" to include, citing four consecutive months of below-forecast state tax collections and a potential governor's 9C cut of up to $375 million statewide. Select Board members warned that the one-time tools used to reach balance — including $825,000 in ARPA funds and roughly $625,000 in scaled-back OPEB contributions — will not be available in future years, with the town's own forward model already showing deficits through FY28. The board also unanimously approved appointing Jonathan M. Vance to the Zoning Board of Appeals, authorized a $604,864 expansion of the Vertex Companies owner's project management contract for the Senior Center, and contracted with Ability Recovery Services LLC for ambulance debt collection at 18.5 percent of collections — the town's first such arrangement.