Pepperell Select Board eyes April override vote as budget gap nears $1 million

PEPPERELL — January 28, 2026 — Pepperell Select Board projects roughly $1 million fiscal 2027 deficit and signals imminent override decision. Town Administrator Andrew Creen told the board Wednesday that four fixed-cost items — retirement up 6.131 percent, health insurance potentially rising as much as 14.4 percent, North Middlesex Regional School District, and Nashoba Tech — collectively account for 67 percent of the general fund budget and are each growing far beyond the town's 2.77 percent allowable revenue increase, producing a projected shortfall he called "a fair estimate" of $1 million. Creen said the board must decide by early February whether to pursue a Proposition 2½ override for the April ballot, and has scheduled a serious budget discussion for February 11. Town Accountant Sandy Copcha reported the current-year fiscal position is largely on track, with 50 percent of expenditures spent and 50.2 percent of revenues collected as of January 21, though the snow and ice account — budgeted at $257,000 — had already exceeded $173,000 with a major storm not yet posted, prompting a unanimous board vote to authorize deficit spending. The board also received word that Pepperell has secured just over $1 million in federal congressional funding from Congresswoman Lori Trahan for the Jersey Street PFAS water remediation project, which has now accumulated roughly $6 million in total grant support.