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.