Voters at the Town of Northborough annual town meeting approved a package of warrant articles that set the town and school spending for fiscal 2026 and authorized several town financial and personnel measures.

Highlights
- Article 1 (Deputy moderator): Voters ratified the moderator’s appointment of Gerald Hickman as deputy moderator.
- Article 2 (Compensating-balance agreements): Voters authorized the treasurer, with select-board approval, to enter compensating-balance agreements with banks pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, chapter 44, section 53F. Finance Director Jason Little explained the mechanism as a bank arrangement in which the town maintains balances in exchange for banking services.
- Article 3 (Consolidated personnel bylaw amendments and FY26 wage increases): Voters approved amendments to the town’s personnel bylaw (including updates to executive-assistant job descriptions, vacation accrual for new hires and a general compensation scale) and authorized wage increases for FY26 described in the supplemental handout. Assistant Town Administrator Diane Wackle and other staff explained the changes.
- Article 4 (Prior-year bills): The article was passed over after the town confirmed there were no unpaid prior-year bills.
- Article 5 (Town budget): The town operating budget for FY26 was approved after extended presentation and floor debate (see separate article for full coverage).
- Article 6 (Northborough public schools): Voters approved the Northborough public-school operating budget of $29,989,942, a 2.99 percent increase over FY25. Superintendent Greg Martineau described the budget as a level-service plan that includes several staffing reductions (4.2 FTE) while adding math curriculum support.
- Article 7 (Northborough’s share of Algonquin Regional assessment): Voters approved the town’s assessment of $15,900,294 for the Northborough–Southborough Regional School District, an increase reflecting transportation, health-insurance and debt/capital assessments.
- Article 8 (Assabet Valley Regional Vocational School assessment): Voters approved Northborough’s assessment of $1,699,103 for Assabet Valley, a 6.9 percent increase. Assabet’s superintendent, Ernest Houle, said rising enrollment from member towns and inflation for consumables and transportation drove much of the increase.
- Article 9 (Enterprise funds — water, sewer, solid waste): Voters approved operating budgets and transfers for the water, sewer and solid-waste enterprise funds. Directors asked voters to note that enterprise funds are largely rate-funded; officials said planned moderate rate increases would be considered by the Water/Sewer Commission.

Formal actions and outcomes
The meeting recorded motions, seconds, public presentations and final votes for each article. For items with substantive floor discussion, presenters explained the drivers and the Appropriations or Financial Planning committees provided recommendations. Several attempts to amend articles (notably a 15 percent reduction on Article 5) were rejected on the floor.

What to watch next
- Fiscal implementation: Finance staff will finalize tax-rate calculations and publish the adopted budget documents before the fiscal year begins.
- Collective bargaining: The town is negotiating five union contracts that will affect FY27 projections; officials said those negotiations remain a key cost risk.
- Capital and debt schedule: The new fire station’s debt service begins in FY26 and is a continuing tax driver noted by presenters.