Middleton Boards Unanimously Approve $4.23 Million FY27 Capital Budget

MIDDLETON — March 25, 2026 — Middleton boards unanimously approve $4.23 million capital budget for fiscal year 2027. The Select Board and Finance Committee met jointly on March 25 with Town Administrator Justin Gilmore leading both bodies through a line-by-line review that included a $2.2 million Fuller Meadow School roof replacement backed by the Massachusetts School Building Authority, a $106,000 Council on Aging van, a $75,000 police cruiser, and $75,000 for PFAS monitoring at the Department of Public Works. A motion to separate a contested $60,000 townwide compensation-and-classification study for a standalone vote failed when it drew no second; the full capital plan then passed without dissent. Gilmore also disclosed that Middleton will use roughly $3 million of its $9.3 million certified free cash balance to satisfy an IRS arbitrage repayment obligation stemming from the town earning investment returns above the yield on its tax-exempt bond borrowings, leaving an estimated carry-over of $3.3 million. The FY27 operating budget, which carried a deficit of approximately $150,000 to $160,000 after a health insurance increase came in at 2.89 percent rather than the projected 20 percent, was under discussion when the available transcript ended.