By Dakota Antelman — Dakota@concordbridge.org
Finance Committee members nearly unanimously agree their preliminary budget guideline for fiscal 2026 should send an urgent message: Trim spending.
Though FinCom’s early 2.44 percent guideline isn’t binding, departments would have to cut $1.16 million from their initial combined budget projections of $106 million to meet the mark.
After approving the guideline 12-1, FinCom plans to gather more input from town and school officials before next month’s final guideline vote.
“This is our initial stake in the ground,” chair Eric Dahlberg said. “This isn’t our final answer or final offer.”
Stringent guideline
FinCom sets budget guidelines as recommendations for annual municipal and school budget increases. Departments presented early budget projections in October. On November 21, FinCom reconvened to consider five main options for a preliminary guideline.
With minor adjustments, the committee chose the most stringent plan and set the goalpost at 2.44 percent. Departments now have a matter of weeks to continue developing their budgets.
Dahlberg said FinCom will collect feedback from department heads and taxpayers. The committee will also hear from Carlisle officials regarding the Concord-Carlisle High School budget.
FinCom plans to approve the final guideline on December 19.
‘Stake in the heart’?
The phrasing varied slightly. But many FinCom members who backed the 2.44 percent preliminary figure reiterated a familiar message about spending as they made their case.
“I think we have an opportunity to actually, really put a stake in the ground and say, ‘This is not sustainable,’” said Jon Garofalo.
The lone dissenter, Karlen Reed, said her colleagues’ choice threatened “too much of a sticker shock.”
“It’s not just a stake in the ground,” she said. “It’s a stake in the heart.”
Dahlberg recently said a budget override may not be necessary for the 2026 fiscal year. But Reed said the town should prepare to ask voters to approve a tax hike above the state’s annual cap of 2½ percent within the next 2-4 years.
Reed said the FinCom should “absolutely” take steps to avoid an override. Still, she said, the preliminary guideline went too far.
‘A hard landing’
Dahlberg and FinCom colleague Paul Rodriguez agreed the guidance is aggressive. In a week that started with calls to rein in spending during the Select Board’s annual tax classification hearing, Dahlberg said this step “forces the conversation.”
“We ask [for] a hard landing,” said FinCom member Pat Geyer, and departments “have the right to come back and tell us how it can’t be done.”
Said Geyer, “It might actually stir some conversation about longstanding policies that the individual budget units have to talk about and haven’t been pressed to talk about for decades.”
