Town Council Approves $184.5 Million Budget, Removes Funding for New Parking Meters on Main Street

The Town Council on Tuesday night voted 10-2 in favor of a $184.5 million operating budget for fiscal year 2027, a 1.9% rise over current spending. (All budget documents can be found here.)

Notably, the figure came down by $758,000 in Board of Education expenses after district officials updated healthcare cost projections based on recently received March 2026 actual claims (a reduction from about $1.9 million in March 2025 to $1.7 million this year).

In addition—following strong opposition from local merchants—the Town Council removed $90,774 in capital spending that had been earmarked for eight additional parking meters downtown (on Main Street).

The legislative body’s chair, Mike Mauro, said nearly all merchants voiced opposition to the additional meters “based on the negative impact it had on their businesses.”

“So I think we as a body like to be responsive to the needs of the community when they arise—like leafblowers is one of them, that is certainly something we are responding to and continue to vet,” Mauro said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “So on that one, everyone can state their mind but I think it’s wise just to press pause at this time and have a further review and discussion on that [the parking meters]. For me, I weigh the merchants in this town very heavily in terms of their popping up and explaining, look, this is going to hurt their business and I think that we should take a further look at that issue.”

Other members of the elected body agreed. 

In all, the fiscal year 2027 spending plan includes a Board of Education operating budget of $116.4 for next fiscal year, a 2.3% rise over current spending. That figure is down from an initial request representing a 3.94% increase, a major swing.

“This improvement is bigger than we’ve had in the past,” Dr. Bryan Luizzi, the superintendent of schools, told the Town Council after reporting the additional reduction. “It’s a very good start. Insurance is difficult. It’s very tricky. I think the swing from where we came in versus where we are, in my 12 years, is the largest.”

The Council praised Luizzi, his team and the Board of Ed for its nimbleness and diligence.

Town Council member Eric Thunem said, “I know you’ve done this based on your modeling and your assumptions, and there’s no way you would reduce your budget request under any pressure from anyone sitting in front of you here. But you’ve done your best job at coming up with the best number and it just so happens that it helps the taxpayers, and I’m grateful for that on their behalf. Thank you for all your work.”

Town Council Vice Chair Janet Fonss called what the BOE was able to do “a heavy lift.”

“Delivering a number-one school district, keeping costs down, savings and insurance—I’m just astounded at what you have accomplished and have been able to achieve,” she said. “I don’t know any other school district that can achieve what you did.”

In addition to Mauro, Thunem and Fonss, those voting in favor of the budget were Council Vice Chair Hilary Ormond and members Maria Naughton, Cristina A. Ross, Penny Young, Kimberly Norton, Jennifer Zonis, and Heather Russell. Council members Lina Lee and Mike Rodgers voted against, citing the most recent reduction to the BOE budget.

In closing, Mauro said, “As I usually state, it’s been a long process from well before the budgets were presented by any of the departments. It’s a ton of work involved to scrape and look and scrub their budgets, operating and capital, across all the departments. I think they’ve all done an excellent job.”

[Note: This article was corrected to reflect the vote count on the overall operating budget.]