Finance Committee sets FY27 budget hearings as SPS budget arrives two weeks late

SUDBURY -- January 12, 2026, Sudbury Finance Committee opens FY27 budget season with SPS submission two weeks late. Co-Chairs Michael Ferrari and Michael Joachim led an eight-member working session Monday to prepare for department budget hearings beginning Feb. 2, as Town Manager Andrew Sheehan confirmed no Proposition 2 1/2 override will be sought for fiscal 2027 but called one "increasingly likely" for fiscal 2028. Assistant Town Manager and Finance Director Victor Garofalo said the Sudbury Public Schools budget is now due Friday after a two-week extension, compressing his release of the town manager's budget to Jan. 29. Member Henry P. Sorett pressed for resisting growth in "town bureaucracy" with no net head-count increase, while member Ryan Lynch reframed the concern as a search for technology-driven efficiencies. The committee approved the Dec. 11 minutes 7-0 with Andrew Bettinelli absent, and adjourned 8-0.