The Millis Finance Committee on April 16 recommended the town's fiscal 2026 operating budget of $47,269,970.30 and voted to recommend the related enterprise fund budgets for sewer, water and stormwater.

Committee members said the increase in the proposed budget reflects negotiated wage and stipend changes in recently ratified collective bargaining agreements and higher operating costs passed through from regional partners.

The warrant summary read by the committee lists total FY2026 spending at $47,269,970.30 with revenue sources including $45,219,942.01 from property taxation, $957,673.50 from the ambulance fund, and smaller amounts from cemetery sales and cell-tower revenue. The committee also reviewed proposed indirect-cost transfers from the enterprise funds to the general fund: sewer $266,269.48, water $325,440.47 and stormwater $173,673.93.

Committee members pressed staff for details after seeing large line-item differences between the FY2026 requests and the town administrator proposed amounts, particularly in the sewer enterprise personnel services line. Staff explained the FY2026 proposed numbers incorporate contractual increases negotiated after preliminary budget requests. Committee members were told the DPW's AFSCME one-year agreement carried a 3% COLA (the other multi-year contracts generally include 2.5% COLAs), step-schedule changes and some stipend adjustments that concentrated costs in year one and increased the first-year personnel totals.

Officials also flagged a roughly 20% increase in the Charles River Pollution Control District (CRPCD) operations and maintenance charge that will raise the town's sewer costs; staff said that increase largely reflects DEP-driven monitoring and plant upgrades required by regulators. The committee requested follow-up details from DPW staff about capital versus O&M components of that charge.

On enterprise budgets, the committee recommended approval of:
- Sewer enterprise (Article 4): $1,702,501.60 (salary and wages $292,425.12; expenses $1,410,076.48) — recommendation passed 8-1.
- Water enterprise (Article 5): $2,621,574.00 (salary and wages $560,440.33; expenses $2,061,133.67) — recommendation passed 8-1.
- Stormwater enterprise (Article 6): $774,328.91 (salary and wages $275,710.91; expenses $498,618.00) — recommendation passed 8-1.

Committee members asked for and were promised the worksheet that shows how indirect costs were allocated across accounts. Finance staff said the indirect-cost allocation had been calculated as a modest percentage increase over prior years and that the enterprise personnel totals reflect negotiated contract terms and some redistribution of positions between funds.

Committee members also recommended the general budget (Article 3) as presented and approved a set of related warrant articles that move reserves and free-cash transfers for capital and other purposes, including: a capital article (Article 8) that would use $437,183 from a mix of free cash and enterprise reserves for equipment and facilities; a lease-purchase for two police cruisers (Article 9); and transfers to funds for Tri-County debt, unanticipated municipal repair, unemployment, OPEB and stabilization (Articles 10, 11, 18, 19, 20, 21). The finance committee recorded its votes and will forward the committee report to the town meeting warrant packet.

Committee chair John Lohr and finance staff said Cherry Sheet revenue changes from the House Ways and Means draft produced only marginal changes to the town's estimates; a proposal to raise chapter 78 per-pupil aid was offset by reductions elsewhere in unrestricted local aid.

The committee emphasized that much of the detailed review of the FY2026 budget has occurred across multiple prior meetings and that tonight's votes reflect the cumulative review.