Pepperell Select Board Sets 2.5 Percent Budget Cap as Health Insurance Costs Soar

PEPPERELL -- December 17, 2025, Pepperell Select Board sets 2.5 percent budget cap and backs Tucker Avenue sidewalk grant. Meeting Wednesday, the three-member board voted unanimously to direct town departments to submit fiscal year 2027 budgets at no more than a 2.5 percent increase, alongside a full level-services comparison, with submissions due January 22. Town Administrator Andrew Cutter warned that a level-services budget could reach 7 percent or higher, driven by a projected 20 percent spike in health insurance that costs the town roughly $28,000 per employee per year for the most common family plan, and said a Proposition 2 1/2 override targeted specifically to health insurance, shared with neighboring Townsend and Ashby, is under active consideration. The board also unanimously endorsed safety improvements including sidewalks along the entirety of Tucker Avenue in connection with a Shared Streets grant application, following a presentation by two Nissitissit Middle School students, eighth grader Loralee Dean and sixth grader Elizabeth Dean, who identified Tucker as the only street in town with access to both schools; Department of Public Works Director Paul Brinkman put the cost of a full Tucker Avenue sidewalk at approximately $900,000 against a $300,000 alternative connecting the schools via a shorter route. Pepperell will receive $439,000 from a state Department of Public Health allocation targeting communities that have lost hospital access, to be spent within 18 months on EMS.