By Betsy Levinson — Betsy@concordbridge.org
The Finance Committee is issuing its annual budget data requests to the town and school districts to begin setting the Fiscal Year 2026 spending guidelines.
“As in previous years, your timely response to this request will provide us with critical inputs for our work to set budget guidelines and establish a five-year tax projection,” the letter states.
The committee said it “welcomes” questions about the budget data and will clarify any matters at its September 26 and October 24 meetings.
The letters are in the mail to Superintendent Laurie Hunter, Town Manager Kerry Lafleur, and Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School Superintendent Heidi Driscoll.
Among the items asked of Lafleur:
- Five-year spending projections under current service levels.
- Programs and services that may change service levels in the next five years.
- Status report on free cash.
- Information on the five-year capital plan that may require excluded debt.
- Information on the status of reserves accumulating for the acquisition, development, or maintenance of land.
For Hunter and Driscoll, the FinCom is adding the following requests, among other items:
- Variations in actual spend versus planned for the previous and current fiscal years.
- The top three to five strategic issues, challenges and/or opportunities and a plan for addressing them in FY26 and beyond.
- The impact of enrollment changes over the next five years and impact on spending.
- Information on anticipated reforms or mandates and their impact on spending.
