Millis Finance Committee Unanimously Backs $48.3 Million FY2027 Budget

PLYMOUTH — April 29, 2026 — Millis Finance Committee clears all 24 warrant articles ahead of May 4 Annual Town Meeting. At its April 29 pre-town meeting session, the eight-member Finance Committee voted unanimously to recommend every article on the warrant, including a $48,258,583 general fund operating budget for FY2027 — a 3.5 percent increase — and a $1,286,633 borrowing authorization for a town-wide water meter replacement program that requires a two-thirds vote at town meeting. Chair John Laur flagged a structural budget challenge: host community agreement funds that have supported social work services, library hours, and school resource officers for roughly five years will be exhausted after FY2027. The committee backed a $200,000 Community Preservation Act appropriation for a proposed 48-unit fully affordable rental development at 1178 Main Street by Metro West Collaborative Development, with Community Preservation Commission member Jim McKay confirming the project will pay full property taxes. A $120,000 engineering study to challenge the town's 2025 FEMA flood maps and a new zoning article adding definitions for battery energy storage systems and data storage centers both passed 9-0, the latter after residents raised concerns about residential siting and AI data center impacts that Chair Laur said he would address with more clarifying language at town meeting.