Pepperell Finance Committee urges $1 million to $1.5 million override amid school budget crisis

PEPPERELL — February 25, 2019 — Pepperell selectmen hear override recommendation of up to $1.5 million as school costs surge. Finance Committee Chair John Laddick told the board that the FinCom voted unanimously to recommend a Proposition 2.5 override question between $1 million and $1.5 million for FY20, a figure that may grow after the North Middlesex Regional School District delivered a proposed assessment increase exceeding 8 percent — up from under 5 percent just one week earlier. Town Administrator Bill McLean warned that the town's free cash reserves, already committed to more than $961,000 in operational and capital needs, would be exhausted by 2021 at current spending rates, and that closing a $400,000-plus deficit without an override would require eliminating six to eight positions from a workforce of roughly 80 employees. The board also unanimously confirmed Lori Plourd as the new town accountant effective March 18, endorsed Senate Docket 101 — the Education Promise Act — which the senator's office estimates would channel roughly $723,700 in additional Chapter 70 funds to the North Middlesex district over five years, and authorized a controlled burn of the surplus portable classroom at the Peter Fitzpatrick School to serve as a live-fire training exercise.