Jason Little, town finance staff, presented a budget snapshot to the Northborough Appropriations Committee on Feb. 4, saying the town faces limited levy capacity as fixed costs and planned debt service rise.

"Northborough's tax bill is the FY25 is the seventieth highest tax bill in the state," Little told the committee as he reviewed affordability measures comparing Northborough with other Massachusetts municipalities. Little said the town’s tax bill as a share of per-capita income returned in state tax data was 14 percent by the metric presented in his memo.

Little said the summary numbers in the packet are evolving as department requests arrive and that his memo sought to show upper and lower boundaries: a summit-modeled upper limit and a more conservative level-service projection. He said some fixed costs — notably retirement-assessment increases and the debt service tied to a recently approved fire station — are driving larger budget increases than departments’ line-item requests alone would imply. Little said school budget increases appear to be near 5 percent in aggregate, higher than the 3 percent previously modeled.

Committee members urged departments to aim closer to level service where possible and to scrutinize capital and vehicle specifications to avoid unnecessary cost inflation. Members also discussed new-growth assumptions; Little said the assessors’ current estimate used for planning was in the neighborhood of $30 million of new value against an approximate $4.5 billion total assessed base, and cautioned that the town is approaching build-out of developable parcels.

The committee discussed capital needs and the potential for constrained borrowing to meet un-funded capital projects. Little said last year’s capital pricing showed higher municipal equipment and construction costs than in prior cycles and recommended a tighter capital plan this year.

The committee set meeting scheduling and said it will press larger departments to justify requests and compare procurement choices with peer communities. No formal finance vote occurred at the Feb. 4 meeting; Little’s memo was intended as a working snapshot to guide subsequent departmental reviews in the FY26 budget process.